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NATIONAL HONOURS

THEIR NOBLEST CLAIMANTS.

Men of high merit stamp a right to honour with the seal of reflected eminence."

Anon.

" The chief glory of every people arises from its authors."

Dr. Samuel Johnson.

EOBEET BIGSBY, LL.D.,

K.J.S. OF PORTUGAL, ETC. ETC.,

Member of the Intrepidi, Pellegrini, Olimpica, Daphnica, Gioenia, and Cosentina
Academies, and Honorary Director of the Koyal Academy of Palermo.

LONDON :

PRINTED BY J. E. TAYLOR & CO., LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
Lincoln's inn fields.

1867.

/f?/6

LIBRARY 11

ilNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNM [

SANTA BARBARA I

INSCRIBED

TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE

TO THE MEMORY OF

THE EIGHT HONOURABLE

HENRY JOHN TEMPLE,
VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, K.G..

G.C.B., G.C.T.S. OF PORTUGAL, ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC.,

LATE PREMIER OF ENGLAND,

TO WHOSE RECOMMENDATION TO THE SOVEREIGN I OWE

THE FLATTERING DISTINCTION OF

A NATIONAL RECOGNITION OF MY HUMBLE LITERARY SERVICES,*

A FAVOUR RENDERED MORE ESTIMABLE BY THE

EXTREME COURTESY AND CORDIALITY

ACCOMPANYING ITS BESTOWAL, AND THE REMEMBRANCE OF

WHICH MUST EVER BE THE MORE GRATIFYING

AS RECALLING THE APPROBATION OF A TRULY GREAT MAN,

WHOSE LONG CAREER OF PUBLIC HONOUR CLAIMS ONE OP THE

NOBLEST VOLUMES IN THE ANNALS OF HIS COUNTRY ;

WHOSE NAME WAS A CHARM THAT STRENGTHENED THE CAUSE

OF LIBERAL GOVERNMENT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD,

WHILE IT AWOKE THE BITTEREST HATRED OF DESPOTIC CABINETS ;

WHO, WHILE HE MADE ENGLAND RESPECTED

BY HER FOREIGN ENEMIES, TRIUMPHED EQUALLY OVER THE

BAFFLED ENMITY OF HER DOMESTIC FOES; AND

WHO, HAVING BEQUEATHED TO SUCCEEDING STATESMEN

A BRILLIANT EXAMPLE

OF SAGACITY, PATRIOTIC SPIRIT, AND INDOMITABLE COURAGE

(the THREE HIGHEST QUALITIES OF GENUINE RULERSHIp),

DIED, IN THE ZENITH OF HIS FAME,

LEAVING A MEMORY THAT WILL EVER BE FRESH AND GREEN IN

THE HEARTS OF TH B BRITISH PEOPLE.

EGBERT BIGSBY.

• Civil List Pension.

PREFACE.

It has ever been seen that the exclusion of men
of letters from a just share in the distribution
of national honours has no tendency to weaken
the attraction of a literar^^ life in this country.
Though coronets and mitres, governorships and
embassies, privy-councillorships, baronetcies, and
knighthoods, have been copiously allotted to
men of inferior ability or of no ability at all,
while personal obscurity, attended with various
degrees of poverty, has been the almost certain
condition of others upon whom the Almighty
has showered his choicest gifts, those which

6 PBEFACE.

elevate and adoru the nature of Man as au
intellectual being, and who have cherished, en-
riched, enlarged, and perfected those gifts by un-
ceasing meditation and devoted study, — we yet
find that the prevailing sense of what was due to
their fellow-creatures, as the beneficiaries of this
high trust, has constrained them to engage such
privileged faculties in the one great object of
supporting the "dignity and honour" of their
country by the application of those stores of ge-
nius and knowledge to the noble cause of lite-
rature, thereby cheerfully incurring the penalty
of social martp'dom, and burying every personal
prospect in unmitigated ruin. Obscurity and
poverty, as opposed to high place and a corre-
sponding state of dignified independence, has
been the almost unfailing result of a dedication
of the loftiest talents to this the most elevated
pursuit of human ambition. England has hither-
to been content that such Virtue, in accordance
with Zeno's axiom, should be "its own reward."
In other countries, poorer and reputed as less

PREFACE. /

civilized than our own, we see a juster sense of
acknowledgment prevail, and wliile men of let-
ters find their talents employed in the highest
branches of the public service, the most dis-
tinguished national honours await them. It is
just that those who are rich should be the most
generous, and England, as the wealthiest country
on the globe, ought not to be the most negligent
of the claims upon her generosity or gratitude.

Literary men have seldom made public their
privations and sorrows. They have lived on,
year after year, in unobserved misery, submitting
with quiet resignation to their wretched lot ; and
I am prepared to expect that this effort of mine
to bring the condition of such micomplaining
sufferers under the notice of those who have the
power to assist unbefriended merit, will give pain
and annoyance, as tending to lower in social
opinion the estimation they possess as a class.
Should this be the case, I can only remark that
my hope of success in raising a powerful sym-
pathy in their favour, in the breasts of all good

8 PKEPACE.

men, and, as an approximate result, of driving
away tlie gliost of penury from their patli of
hopeless endurance, will counterbalance the ob-
jections entertained towards my design.

Amongst many other instances of distress, I
remember that of a man for whom I felt a sincere
and warm friendship — a tender and reverent re-
gard. A nobler, gentler nature, a more refined
and elevated taste, a more masterly attainment
of literary skill and learning, associated with a
poetical genius of commanding power, has seldom
existed. That man died an early victim to the
galling yoke of forced exertion inflicted upon
him by his literary taskmasters. I had, on rare
occasions, the privilege of hearing him read with
a poet^s enthusiasm the pages of a work destined,
as I believe, to have achieved for its author an
enduring and glorious name on the roll of Fame
— a work prosecuted by him at distant and un-
certain intervals, at moments of the briefest lei-
sure, through the overruling necessity of devoting
his almost uninterrupted attention to those loath-

PEEPACE.

some acts of drudgeiy so unfitted for the scope
of his natural inclinations and peculiar attain-
ments,— a necessity rendered still more impe-
rious by the dependence of a sick wife and infant
family, whom his unsparing devotedness to this
course of labour hardly preserved from the hor-
rors of threatened destitution. His death was
the direct result of an overtaxed brain, bewil-
dered, as it had long been, by the pressure of
demands unfitted for the exercise of his literary
genius. Under such heart-wearing toil, long-
continued confinement, harassing anxieties, and
pressing privations — telling as they did against
a feeble physical constitution — what wonder that
his energies gave way, and that his daily task-
work became impeded, while, with the pride of a
lofty nature, he forbore, till it was too late, to
communicate those pecuniary embarrassments
which quickly followed ! I spare the reader the
sequel of his fate. Not a line of that splendid
poem which had been the pride of his heart was
suffered to survive him. Memories of this kind

10 PEEFACE.

have hovered over my desk while I committed
my thoughts to the following pages. May they
not have been wi-itten in vain !

I believe that the instances are few in which
men of literary merit are selected for employment
in any department of our public service. They are
compelled to depend on their unassisted exer-
tions, as authors, for the requirements of each
passing day. This necessity would be far less
regrettable, if it were happily allowed them to
select according to their several abilities the
work they were necessitated to perform ; but it
almost invariably happens that the subjects for
composition are chosen for them by the pub-
lisher, whose immediate market for such literary
wares is the only matter consulted; and it fol-
lows, as a too general result, that books are com-
piled in a listless and inefficient manner, fur-
nished at a given price, within a given period,
with little regard to their quality or intrinsic
value. But give the same writers leave to choose
their own subjects, and allow them ample time

PEEPACE. 11

for the accumulation and arrangement of tlieir
materials, and how wide would be the difference
in the style and treatment observable in their
productions ! I say, then, if, as is indisputable,
the public look to this class of men as guides in
every direction of human knowledge, as the cul-
tivators of the national taste and morals, as the
best guardians of the liberties of the common-
wealth,— in a word, as the great promoters of civi-
lization throughout the wide family of mankind,
— it follows that it is a matter of policy — to say
nothing of justice — to enable such men to pur-
sue their labours for the public good on such
terms as are consistent with the free execution
of their severally chosen undertakings. Rescue
them from the slavery they now endure, by the
grant of a literary pension, or a befitting stipend
for the discharge of occasional duties in one or
other of the public branches of service, and from
such loatronage would spring fruit a hundredfold
in the gathering. I cannot conceive the case of
a greater sufferer than that of the man who, with

12 PREFACE.

strong yearnings for the liberty of adapting his
peculiar powers to a task of literary exertion con-
genial with the character or special bent of his
genius, must bow to the ignoble necessity of
accepting such mean drudgery for his pen as
is afforded under the slave- compelling dictation
of speculative traders deahng in books as mere
articles of merchandise. Such terms are in them-
selves revolting to any man of intellect and in-
tegrity. He loses self-respect in submitting to
them.

Need I say more to enlist the sympathy of any
reader, whose judgment would be worthy of
regard ?

NATIONAL HONOURS

AND THEIR

NOBLEST CLAIMANTS.

" It is by most persons acknowledged, that no maxim in
politics is more indisputable than that a nation should have
many honours to bestow on those who perform national services.
Honorary distinctions excite emulation, cherish public spirit, and
create an ambition highly conducive to the good of the coimtry."
— Dr. Nicholas Carlisle.

Virtue, by wliicli is meant not moral excellence-
alone, but also the spirit and energy that attain
superiority in the nobler pursuits of life, is, or
ought to be, an unfailing passport to Honour.
We use the word Honour in the sense of a re-
cognition from the State, through the grant of an
honorary distinction from its chief ruler.

The Athenians raised a noble statue to the
memory of ^sop, and placed a slave on a pedes-

14 LITEEARY CLAIMS TO

tal, tliat men miglit know tlie way to Honoue
was oiien to all.

All virtues were made deities by the Romans,
Marcellus erected two temples, one to Virtue,
the other to Honour. They were built in such a
manner, that to see the Temple of Honour it
was necessary to pass through that of Virtue ; —
a happy allegory, deserving alike the deepest
consideration of sovereigns and their subjects.
The duties of subjects are closely defined; those
of monarchs are less distinctly mapped out. Let
us hear what an author of modern times says of
the duty of rulers ; and the remark is of value,
as proceeding from a writer distinguished by
the united recommendations of keen discernment
and candid utterance : — " It is expected that they
who are high and eminent in the State shall not
only provide for its necessary safety and subsis-
tence, but omit nothing" which may contribute
to its dignity and honour.''^ What, we ask, can
more powerfully contribute to the " dignity and
honour^' of a State than the adoption of a system of
assured rewards for those who justly merit them ?

Assuming an answer in the affirmative, we
propose a second question, Who are the chief
benefactors of a nation, and to whom is the world
at large most deeply indebted ?

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWAEDS. 15

Dr. Johnson, the great moralist, has said that
the " cldef gJory of every people arises from its au-
thors." " The beneficial influence of literature,"
observes the elder D^Israeli, " is felt through
successive ages; and they, indeed, are the chief
benefactors of mankind, who bestow on posterity
their most refined pleasures and their most useful
speculations."

"The great benefactors of mankind," remarks
the brilliant contributor of an unacknowledged
essay in one of our older magazines, to whose
pages we regret our present inability to refer,
" are they who teach men to be wise, virtuous,
and happy. They are the heralds of heaven —
the messengers of peace on earth, and goodwill
towards man. Their voice is the voice of virtue,
and its echo is glory."

Anaxagoras, the Clazomenian philosopher,
used to say he preferred a grain of wisdom to
heaps of gold. Socrates, Euripides, and Pericles
were in the number of his pupils. The latter
often consulted him on matters of State.

"It is mind that makes the man." Of all
claims to human distinction, those founded on
superiority of genius and intellectual attainments,
if accompanied by a corresponding elevation of
virtuous sentiment, are most worthy of esteem,

B 2

16 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

Having clearly ascertained what class of men
are the cliicf glory of a nation^ and regarding as
equally obvious and incontrovertible the fact that
it is the duty of those who rule to neglect nothing
that can contribute to the "dignity and honour"
of a State, we are morally entitled to demand a
just and unequivocal answer, from those who
govern, to the suggested query. Why are our
most eminent literary worthies not regarded in
the light of " ]3ubUc servants," and, as such,
allowed to participate in the distribution of " State
rewards " ?

It has been said that men in power prefer to
bestow benefits upon the undeserving, because
in such instances they grant a favour ; while, in
conferring honour or advantage upon those who
merit it, they only discharge a debt. They ought,
however, to remember that when they reward the
deserving they pay a high compliment to them-
selves, by showing that they possess the superior
qualities of mind which induce an appreciation
of the juster claim of merit. Doing justice to
worthy qualities is a credit to our judgment. No
obligation can be of more force than to render to
eminent virtue its due rewards.

Good, learned, and Jiajrpy are epithets which
should never be dissociated. A barbarous state

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWAEDS. 17

of society wills otherwise. The "Ahderita mens "
has too long prevailed on this question. Let us
shake off our sluggish disposition and stupidity,
and show that the air we breathe is wholesome,
and favourable to greater activity and strength of
mental resolve. Let us learn to do honour to
such as have " deserved well of society, and laid
out worthy and manly qualities in the service of
the public.^' The public always reap greater
advantage from the example of successfiil merit
than the deserving man himself can possibly be
possessed of. Yet how rare an occun'ence is that
of a due reward assigned by his country to a man
of conspicuous desert!

" Nothing,^' says Granger, " could form a more
curious collection of memoirs than anecdotes op
PREFERMENT. Could the secret history of great
men be traced, it would appear that merit is
rarely the first step to advancement. It would
much oftener be found to be owing to superficial
qualifications, and even vices."

The records of history, and the observation of
experience, alike teach us that merit often fails to
meet with its just acknowledgment. The opinion
of society seems to suggest that poverty and
obscurity are the fitting conditions of the poet
and the philosopher. True it is^ that wealth and

18 LITEEARY CLAIMS TO

power are rarely the acquisitions of wisdom and
virtue. It is a vulgar axiom that ''fools have
fortune/' It may be that the world is sometimes
jealous of the most deserving, or that it has not
yet discovered who are our nation's noblest
worthies — its loftiest heroes, its most meritorious
citizens.

" The world/^ says Dr. Knox, " has seldom
been grateful to its benefactors. It has neglected,
banished, poisoned, and crucified them."

" The eighteenth century," remarks Dr. Jortin,
a former archdeacon of London, and a writer of
superior talent, " has been in our country an age
of public charities ; but one charity is still want-
ing; and that is, an Hospital for Scholars."
Again he observes : — " Scholars have a poor time
of it in every country ; in ours especially, where
all they can get by their abilities, industry, and
reputation, is just to keep their heads above
water."

They are admired and neglected, praised and
starved.

A writer of great merit, in the last century,
speaking of a piece of preferment he expected to
receive, but of which he was disappointed, says —
" A person who is not worth the naming was
preferred to me, by the solicitation of — it matters

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 19

not ivJio." Anotlier project of advancement hav-
ing also failed, he adds^ in reference to the cause,
that it was attributable to the '' opposition of —
it matter's not who." " This it matters not tvJio,"
he observes, " is often a very troublesome gentle-
man to persons of merit, and a very sedulous
besetter of great persons."

To birth is conceded the preferment which
belongs justly to merit. *' Non idem licet nobis,"
to borrow the words of Cicero, '' quod iis qui
nobili genere nati sunt; quibus omnia, dormi-
entibuSj deferuntur."

How often have we seen a beggarly pittance,
counted as with an eye to pence and shillings,
accorded to the highly-deserving man of letters,
while to the insignificant but influentially-con-
nected hanger-on of some ofiicial department a
munificent provision has been extended ! How
often have we seen the highest honours of the
State awarded to those whose claims could not
be exposed with decent gravity to the scarcely
awakened discernment of some youthful ques-
tioner ! How often have we seen coronets and
baronetcies bestowed as the reward of unconsti-
tutional services, or given, as " pearls cast before
swine," in mere sordid deference to men with no
other recommendation than that ascribed to the

20 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

length of tlieir rent-roll, or tlie extent of tlieir
casli investments. Grubs and caterpillars, merely
born, as Horace expresses it, "consumere
fruges,^' are such claimants for unenviable no-
toriety,— born to consume the fruits of the earth,
and for no other end, as it would seem, than that
of becoming the unworthy recipients of such
degraded dignities.

" Titles of honour conferred upon such as have
no personal merit to deserve them," says Tacitus,
" are at best but the royal stamp set upon base
metal,''^

What then must be the feelings of men of
honourable sentiments, when, after a life of pro-
longed sacrifice for the elevation of their country's
literary repute, they find themselves neglected
by the hand of power, — nay, see the favours of
royalty reserved for what are called " State ser-
vices," as if any higher services could be rendered
to the State than those they have themselves
rendered ? Yes, what must be their sense of
such base injustice when they contemplate the
scanty material resources which, in the enthusi-
asm of their disinterested zeal, they had looked
to as sufficient for the decent sustenance of de-
clining years in that period of life which they had
hoped to see cheered by the enlivening beams of

PDBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 21

a publicly expressed national sympathy, as testi-
fied in a recognition from the State, in reward of
their long public services ?

When, we ask, shall we see the glittering star
and the shining cordon conceded, in this country,
to the breast of him who has enshrined his name
in the title-page of some glorious epic, or who
has poured forth his celestially -inspired thoughts
in an impassioned series of lyrical triumphs, or
high dramatic achievements ? When shall we
witness the gift of high place or munificent
pension to the deserving man of letters who has
devoted the " midnight oil '' and the noontide ray
to protracted toil — toil whose intensity would
cause to shrink from it the coarsest natures in-
ui'ed to manual labour, could they gain an ade-
quate idea of the exhaustive strain upon the
mental powers which that exertion involved?
The fact undeniably is, that men of this heroic
stamp — men thirsting for the lofty prize of im-
mortality awarded to genius — are looked upon in
official circles in a contemptuous light. They are
regarded as blind and misguided creatures —
energetic triflers — vain seekers of an empty
name, which they hope to bequeath, as a sacred
record, to the care of a distant posterity — vision-
aries insanely in love with the allegorized im-

22 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

personation of Fame^ a goddess wliose vaunted
golden trumpet is the only gold in her possession,
and whose sole function it is to bestow on her
fondest admirers an empty blast ! While such
opinions are more or less strongly entertained in
the highest rank of our public functionaries, what
hope, it will be asked, can exist for an admission
of the long unconsidered claims of the literary
aspirant ?

Thus unappreciated, neglected, despised, his
enthusiasm and devotion weigh nothing against
the patronage-sprung idler's rival pretensions,
who, sot or fop, dunce or idiot, has credentials
from — " it matters not v)ho !" But, we ask, shall
these things continue ? shall this injustice never
cease ? shall our noblest workers be longer al-
lowed to pine beneath the cold shade of social
obscurity, while their great works are destined to
enrich the stores of taste, wisdom, and erudition
boasted by future ages ? An answer, following
swiftly as thunder succeeds to the near lightning,
brands with indignant contempt the stolid indif-
ference or insolent disdain betrayed in this official
estimate of the right of learning and literary
genius to a due recognition from the rulers of the
State, in testimony of their high claims on public
gratitude and national reward. ^VTiile the name

PUBLIC HONOURS AND KEWAEDS. 23

of a learned and ingenious writer shall be hailed
as a glorious star in the firmament of the future^
the memory of these degraded men in transient
authority shall be but as the murky clouds that
vainly sought to obscure its earlier beams, if
indeed a total oblivion shall not have swept them
from the record of the past. Should their images
survive, they will assuredly be presented to the
mind's eye of the future observer as mere sub-
ordinate figm^es introduced into the background
of the picture, as adjuncts to the more prominent
dignity of the main object, and subjected only to
this degrading notice as the MiDAS-like deriders
of immortal genius, or as the petty illiterate
undervaluers of those stores of lofty erudition of
which their humble, limited apprehensions could
form no corresponding idea.

It is thus that Justice, sooner or later, strikes a
balance between the deserving and the unde-
serving.

We will next consider what would be the effect
of admitting our principal literary worthies to the
higher official employments, of raising them to
distinguished public honours, or of bestowing
upon them an emolumentary provision, in ac-
knowledgment of their great public services.
Would it be for the advantage of the State, or

24 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

otherwise? Would it be for tlie advantage of
the men themselves, or otherwise ?

First, then, as to the advantage of the State ?
The studies that refine and elevate the liberal
mind must impart a sterling value to the labours
of the literary worker. And those studies, there-
fore, should be encouraged and assisted by a pro-
vision for the exigencies of a writer's physical
need, as regards personal support, and the main-
tenance of a fit social position, in order that he
may be possessed of that due amount of leism'e,
and its attendant opportunities, which is calcu-
lated to enhance the value and success of his
writings. A man labouring under depression of
mind, beset with pressing pecuniary difficulties,
deprived of necessary means of research, or of
leisure to consider points of important interest in
the process of literary speculations, must be ex-
pected to give bii'th to mental fruits of far infe-
rior quahty and quantity to those produced under
more genial and kindly-fostering influences. Few,
we believe, are the men now living, who, simply
by the exercise of the pen, in the various depart-
ments of authorship, have raised themselves to
an afl&uent position, or even maintained a condi-
tion free from degrading embarrassment. Our
own experience of the habits and opinions of so-

PUBLIC HONOUES AND EEWAEDS. 25

ciety, as derived from a somewhat extended in-
tercom'se witli persons of various classes, does
not favour tlie impression tliat literary men in
general hold that position in social life which
their superiority of mental accomplishments, and
widely - spread reputation, ought to command.
They are too freqviently reckoned as amongst the
tribes of those 'Svhom nobody knows. ■'^ The
reason too often sufficing as an obvious explana-
tion of tliis most apparent ostracism of men of
literary merit from the upper circles of society, —
of this habitual estrangement of intercourse with
the more wealthy and influential portion of those
moving in a sphere of superior taste and refine-
ment, is the one understood and admitted fact,
that their worldly means are inadequate to the
demands inseparable from the attempt to main-
tain equal terms, or, in other words, support a
reputable position amongst people of ampler for-
tune. Were our lucrative civil employments con-
ferred upon our more distinguished men of let-
ters, they would be relieved from the necessity of
hiding those many talents and accomplishments
in unjust obscurity, which seem to have been im-
parted or acquired to give fascination and enjoy-
ment to the social circle. It is too true that men
of the noblest intellect are pining in adversity.

26 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

whose works are well known to the reading
public, and from whose painful industry rich
publishers and prosperous booksellers are deriv-
ing copious profits. We may daily and hourly
see the antithesis presented by the author and
the mere trader upon his works. The former is
compelled to bury his days in the dull retirement
of some obscure suburb, too often the prey of
severe privation and anxious embarrassment; —
the latter pleasantly drives, when business is
over, in his handsome carriage, to some fashion-
able quarter near town, or takes the "express" for
Brighton, where his spacious mansion or elegant
villa, with all its attendant evidences of tasteful
opulence, evinces plainly enough the one-sided
bargains enforced upon the less fortunate, but far
more meritorious partner of his speculations. A
moderate pension, or appropriate official stipend,
would soon place deserved independence in the
path of the literary labourer. Minds like his
seek not to revel in voluptuous plenty, amid ob-
sequious friends and inordinate riches. His men-
tal enjoyments would still possess for him the
highest charm in life. He would work with better
cheer, and with a prouder ambition to excel.
Add to this improvement of his means the pro-
spect of a national mark of honouk as a prize for

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWAEDS. 27

conspicuous merit, and all has been done that can
promise the means of sustaining emulation in the
bosom of those who, with favouring opportunities,
are born to give assured increase of honour to the
literary annals of their country. In truth, society
would reap, a hundredfold, the advantages of
such an investment. We might then hope to see
many proud additions to the stores of literary
genius. Works that men would " not willingly
let die,^' would soon replace the less elaborated
compositions which a hurried necessity forces
upon the public eye. Not then would our dra-
matic writers borrow openly and unscrupulously
both the plots and dialogues of their pieces from
the French stage. Our lyrical poets would re-
string their lyres, and invoke loftier influences to
their aid. Our novelists would draw more steadily
upon the higher resources of their taste and judg-
ment, favoured by those anxiously-desired oppor-
tunities for leisurable criticism, so long and so
imperiously forbidden to them. Marvellous re-
sults, now entirely unanticipated, would follow
the royal proclamation that national honours and
bounties would attend the display of conspicuous
MERIT in every department of generous enter-
prise. Many a valuable manuscript, now buried
in threatened insecui-ity, would be restored to the

28 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

eye of day, subjected to tlie severe revision of tlie
re-inspirited writer, amplified, enriched, and per-
fected with untiring skill and energy. The la-
bours of science would be prosecuted with fresh
devotion, with bolder aspirations. The painter
and the sculptor would aspire to recall the triumphs
of a Parrhasius and a Zeuxis, of a Phidias and a
Praxiteles, of a Timanthes and a Protogenes.
A new era would be inaugurated. The true spirit
of the ancients would return to us. "What a
collection of pygmies," exclaims an acute critic,
" do we now seem, compared with the gigantic
statues of the ancients \" Why should the un-
favourable contrast continue? We have their
powers of mind and body; but we want their one
colossal virtue, tlie true source of poiver, — a reve-
rence for mental and moral excellence, — a belief in
our being able to approach by far nearer degrees
to perfection, — a steady, determined, unshrinking
will to accomplish the higher objects of a just
ambition. Give larger opportunities, more as-
sured results, and we will prophesy a glorious
harvest of public advantage. A new era, rivalling
in splendour any that has preceded as, would pre-
sent an assemblage of great characters formed on
the models of a better age, the age of Augustus
or of Pericles. Our own country is not without

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 29

higli examples for imitation in the noble reign of
Elizabeth, whicli Englishmen should ever revere
and strive to emulate. " Give me a fulcrutn,"
exclaimed Archimedes, "and I will move the
earth." The fulcrum was needed, but unattain-
able. That now required is attainable. It is the
all-potential voice of the Sovereign, calmly and
majestically uttering the plain, undeniable fact,
that, in this wealthy and liberal country, there is
no fit provision made for the encouragement and
reivard of those whose services to the State are most
deserving of its highest consideration. Let our
various contributors to the press once feel thei-
liberation from the petty tyranny of their pub-
lishers' dictation, let them once find themselves
able to despise those impediments which now re-
strain their efibrts to attain a due position in
social life, — and we shall see a Titanic and irre-
sistible power in the hands of a class which has
hitherto been chained and spell-bound, gagged
and fettered by the iron circumstances of neces-
sity. Authors will then band together in more
prominent clubs, and in more extended coteries.
They will meet fraternally in a wider and more
genial sphere of fellowship, welcomed in the
highest circles of society. There is a secret prin-
ciple which unites kindred geniuses, as well as

c

30 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

kindred souls. The elevating influences of virtue
and knowledge^ the dignifying bekests of reason,
will gradually weaken the irrational prejudices
and erroneous modes of tliinking tliat have been
rendered potential only as associated with the
want of all opposition, and they will give way,
one by one, beneath the lofty challenge of a purer
code of civilization, a far more spiritual and re-
fined philosophy, a far nobler general system of
practical morality. The secret of these wide
social changes will be disclosed in the great suc-
cessful fact that intellectual worth will assert and
maintain its long-impeded superiority, its just in-
fluences in the government of society. Happy
the day that shall behold the frigid convention-
alities of artificial life, the crude, insipid ideas of
caste and exclusiveness, the wide-spread laxity of
moral sentiment, the too-frequent absence of vital
religion, the low standard of personal honour,
yield to the nobler precepts of a new oracle, whose
inspiring divinity is Virtue, garbed in the noble
vestments of truth, knowledge, and beneficence,
and whose shrine is devoted to the honour and
happiness of human nature, while the ministrants
of her rites " are they who teach men to be wise,
virtuous, and happy, — the heralds of heaven, —
the messengers ,pf peace and goodwill towards

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 31

man. Their voice is the voice of virtue^ and its
echo is gloiy." The dispensations of God have
only one source, the will of Omnipotent Benevo-
lence. "He who carefully imitates God/' says
the saintly Origen, "is God's best statue \" Our
prayer and hope are fervently assured that a better
state of things looms in the future, that we shall
see many "statues" raised, ere long, in high
places, to God's honour and man's happiness.

The promotion of men of literary talent to
public situations of trust and honour, as just re-
cognitions of the claims of merit, and their in-
creased social influence as the direct and bene-
ficial result to society, have been sufficiently evi-
denced. Let us now consider what such a change
of circumstances would operate upon "the men
themselves," in addition to the incidents which
have been brought into notice in the former part
of our inquiry as to the result of " public" benefit.

" There is this good in commendation," says a
writer of the last century, " that it helps to con-
firm men in the practice of virtue."

" The praise," says Plutarch, "bestowed upon
great and exalted minds, only spurs on and
arouses their emulation. Like a rapid torrent,
the glory already acquired hurries them ii'resis-
tibly on to everything that is grand and noble."

c2

32 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

" Gloria invitantur praeclara ingenia/' is proudly
observed by Cicero. "True honour/' says lie^ " is
the concurrent approbation of good men; such
only being fit to give their praise, who are them-
selves praiseworthy." And again he exclaims,
" Why should we dissemble what it is impossible
to conceal ? Wliy should we not rather be proud
of confessing, that we all aspire at glory; that
this inclination is strongest in the noblest minds V
How have we to regret the loss of Ciceeo's Trea-
tise on Glory, written by a man who in all parts
of his conduct displayed so ardent a love of re-
nown !

The generality of men are more or less influ-
enced by motives that have their root in a love
of HONOUK. If the spur of the spirit be not keen
enough to impel them personally to seek the con-
flict in which the prize of gallantry is won, they
more or less cordially sympathize with those who,
bound to them by the ties of domestic or social
relations, have been crowned with deserved tokens
of national honour. From ocean to ocean, —
wherever humanity exists, whether savage or
civilized, bond or free, — all covet, many deserve,
marks of public distinction, as testimonies of their
countries' approbation and gratitude, — thosepn'ce-
less lieirlooms to be handed down, in memory of
their achievements, to the latest posterity.

rUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 33

Glory — not wealth — is the aim of the intellec-
tual labourer, as it is of all, indeed, who prefer a
generous devotion of their lives and energies to
the public service, rather than a mean care for
the petty interests of selfish greed, or the baser
allurements of vicious pleasure. Ere we proceed
to point out the effects of royal and national
favour on the fate of our literary contemporaries,
let us make a few observations on the present
sad lot of such worthies in this great and gener-
ous country.

Adverting to the well-known poverty and pri-
vations of this honourable class of men, well may
parents exclaim with grateful emotion, " Oh,
thank God, my son was not born a genius!"
meaning one that was destined to become a lover
of poetry and general literatm-e, with a strong
inclination for relinquishing the service of Mer-
cury to pay court to the Muses. If some poor
ill-fated wretch is discovered to be addicted to
a passion for books and for literary composition,
— if he is seen to eschew the common occupations
and converse of the more ordinary people, and
seek the congenial intercourse of a higher sphere
of intellectual fellowship, — how soon do his
wealthier kindred, even his more familiar asso-
ciates, fall away from his side, not, perhaps,

34 LITEEARY CLAIMS TO '

witliout long and reiterated warnings of tlie
penalties to be paid for renouncing the comforts
and respectabilities of life, to engage in a course
of empty speculation wbicli must too surely con-
duct bim to misery and contempt. Then, as
entreaties and remonstrances fail, tbey will resort
to the strong-er hint of the " alienation from his
family/^ that must follow this mad decision.
" He will lose every friend he has on the earth ! "
So ring out, in dolesome chimes, the quasi-
funereal chorus, A later stage of expostulation,
in some instances, succeeds. He is derided and
sneered at by some of these cork-headed, world-
incrusted wretches; his ''visionary pretensions"
are exposed to the ready laugh, that bitter,
mocking expression of a coarse, malevolent na-
ture ! Men must be superior to the world, while
they respect it, or be its slaves. If, daring to be
WHAT HE IS [ever a right ma,r{m), he persists in
following out what he conceives to be the ap-
pointed course of his destiny, namely, the aban-
donment of common pursuits to engage in a
career whose toils are virtue, and their reward,
honour; his relations and friends become, one by
one, estranged and cold, slowly, it may be, but
surely, dropping any connection or correspon-
dence, leaving him, as they believe — and, it may

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 35

be suspected, hope — to his early and complete
ruin. And well enough would it be, if the cur-
tain were allowed to fall upon this stage of the
plot. But there is too generally another and
final act to be exhibited. Many a sad and sor-
rowful heart has found but too true the words of
Shakespeare : — " Those you make friends and
give your heart to, when they perceive the least
rub in your fortunes, fall away like water from
you, never found again unless they mean to sm/b
you.^' These tuorfhy relatives and friends must
justify to the world their opinions, and the mea-
sures founded upon them. They are usually
people, it must be understood, who stand much
upon the '' respect and confidence of society," the
" apfrohation of prudent persons,^' like them-
selves ! Prudent ! it is a useful word in the
mouth of clever worldlings. It so easily does
duty for generosity, and for other qualities which
are too apt to compel a reluctant fumbling for
the purse that retreats into an angle of the
pocket, as instinct with its owner's characteristic
wariness, and cold, un sympathizing nature.

"In persons of this stamp/' to quote a fine
passage in a contemporary author, " dulness is
caution ; cowardice, discretion ; and insensibility,
virtue. Cold characters are the least hkely

36 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

to fall under censure ; not having stimulus to
move out of tlie beaten track^ tliey remain behind
a screen all their hves, alike inaccessible to the
praise of the just, or the animadversions of the
unjust. It is the ardent character who throws
himself, body and soul, in the way of circum-
stances which demand opposition, that is the
t)bject of acclamation or opprobrium/'

To proceed. The poor object of the aversion
of these " honourable men/' is now secretly ma-
ligned in every quarter, enemies are made for
him in every direction. All communication
ceases. A dark, ever-increasing shadow spreads
itself over his future way. Nevertheless, his
heart is brave — his soul is the home of conscious
virtue — and he goes forth alone into the world,
without a smile of sympathy from those whom
Providence seemed to have pointed out as his
natural friends and allies. He goes forth, and
it may be to perish.

We believe, that if we could ascertain the cir-
cumstances attending the earlier career, that is
to say, the outset of almost every literary aspi-
rant born in an honourable or respectable class
of society, but unendowed with a competent share
of this world's goods, we should find, more or
less prominently exhibited^ this emphatic denun-

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWARDS. 37

ciation of his "misguided foWj," tliis brand of a
" black slieep/' sought to be affixed to his cha-
racter^ as an excuse and warrant for the sordid
abuse and base desertion of his miserable detrac-
torSj a desertion which simply and unmistakably
means, " Look not unto tis in the day of evil.
On you7- own head let the consequences fall. Be
MAD — be miserable/^ Thus they get rid of the
society of one, who, by adopting a precarious
and generally unremuuerative pursuit, is likely
to fall into a chronic state of poverty and em-
barrassment.

If, as sometimes happens, the expected victim
gives promise to the public of high literary
ability, if the world begins to whisper of his
present success and future distinction, — a bastard
sort of envy, born of rooted contempt and com-
pulsory admiration, adds venom to the malignity
of his traducers. A curse sticks in their throat,
whenever his praise is casually resounded by the
organs of the press, or by those of human speech.
The selfish and the sordid are ever the most in-
defatigable calumniators, the fragrance of their
social respectability drowning the stink of their
moral infamy. But, alas for the destiny of our
gallant adventurer ! " Fortune,^' as the elder
D^IsEAELi observes, " has rarely condescended to

38 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

be tlie companion of merit. Even in tliese en-
lightened times, men of letters have lived in
obscurity, while their reputation was widely
spread ; and have perished in poverty, while
their works were enriching the booksellers/'
" To mention those,^^ he adds, " who left nothing
behind them to satisfy the undertaker, were an
endless task."

Few, we fear, are the instances in which the
hapless bark of the literary mariner is not seen
to go down in the stormy sea of worldly calamity.
Amongst a hundred strugglers for eminence in
authorship, does one (we ask the question with a
commiserative sigh) does one succeed in securing
a reputable standing ? Does more, indeed, than
one in a thousand reach the anticipated goal of
his ambition? The career of such a man is
often —

"Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can say — it lightens!"

He fails, it is true ; but, ere the heart-strings
break, or the brain is shattered, or the over-
whelming tempest of ghastly ruin sweeps him
away, he has probably given birth to some en-
during assurance that he has not, like Ocnds in
classic writ, toiled in vain. He may have im-
mortalized his name — that name so despised,

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWARDS. 39

loathed, calumniated, and abjured by the social
respect abilities of a former day; some great men-
tal acliievement may have entitled him to say,
" Exegi monumentum aere perennius!^' Dying
in premature exhaustion and distress, he may
yet smile on his fate, ascribing to the God who
chose to model his nature and pursuits for His
own concealed purposes, and to call His labourer
from the work at the moment of His sovereign
pleasure, the praise of the little which he has
been permitted to accomplish, and feeling richly
recompensed by the contemplation of any por-
tion of benefit which his ungrateful contem-
poraries may have received, or which may be
imparted to future generations.

God does not create men of this stamp in vain.
They serve to manifest the more potential dis-
play of His revealed contempt for the ordinary
teachings of the world. We ought not to look
at such men as the slaves of misery — as outcasts
beyond the social pale, — but rather, as those set
apart, by a tangible mark, as the favourites of
heaven, a mark which no ignorance can avoid
seeing. Is it uot too sad, that while we cannot
but recognize this solemn ordination of their
faculties to a superior mission in the cause of
humanity, — while we see them direct every energy

40 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

of mind and frame to the one great object of
their thus consecrated lives, — we should yet, with
cold indifference, permit them to fall an almost
certain sacrifice to their sublime devotion ?

" But," to cite the eloquent words of Knox,
" there was an inward satisfaction in conscious
rectitude, a generous spirit in heroic virtue,
which bore them through everything with com-
fort, and their merit increased and triumphed in
adversity."

The preceding picture, drawn from real life,
may be doubted by many worthy inexperienced
readers, who only think of an author of repute
as revelling in the pride of superior talents,
reading with complacency the praises of his
works in the magazines and newspapers, caressed
by noble and distinguished associates, the dar-
ling guest of the drawing-room and aristocratic
beauty, surroujided with the blessings conferred
by an elegant competency, and enjoying the
enviable charms of long intervals of enthusiastic
self-communion. Time was, when we ourselves
painted, for our hearths enjoyment, so blissful a
scene of imaginary happiness, but the cold reali-
ties of life have long ago banished the illusory
representation.

We think that enough has been said to evince

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWARDS. 41

tHe present condition of men of learning and ge-
niuSj and to show that indigence is the almost
certain companion of literary merit. Let us
pause for a moment, and consider why those
men whom God Himself seems to honour most,
should be least favourably regarded by their
fellow-creatures. " On some He pours His spirit,
on others He descends in showers of gold ; and
the moral to be drawn is this, that as He divides
His benefits, so should men impart to each other
a share of the gifts they have received from His
goodness.^'

We have long wondered how it was possible
that princes and nobles, and men of wealth and
intelligence, professing honourable and liberal
sentiments, could read the productions of a wri-
ter of genius, acknowledge the perfections of his
style, the varied graces and beauties of his com-
positions, enrich their libraries with his valued
tomes, expend their commendations upon the
highly-gifted author, — yet, when the voice of
public rumour disclosed the evidence of that
author's embarrassments or ruin, could take no
heed of the matter, even though to relieve that
suffering would have cost but the lifting up of a
finger — the utterance of a single word ! How
can it be, that neither individuals, nor the public

42 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

at large^ feel any sliame^ or see any wrong, in
tlius abandoning to his unliappy fate the noble-
minded supporter of bis country's literary re-
putation amongst tbe kindred nations of the
globe ? Of all human problems presented to us,
that of systematically ignoring the claims of emi-
nent literary men struggling with the difficulties
of undeserved poverty, has ever been the most
difficult of solution — the most extraordinary and
unaccountable. We suppose, however, that the
sorrows of such sufferers are pondered upon for
a few transient moments, and forgotten. They
concern nobody individually ; they moreover
suggest unpleasant ideas ; the human mind na-
turally turns away from distress which it cannot
relieve; and the same feeling is entertained when
the past reveals its history of human sorrows.
But it is for the rulers of nations — for those who
have power to give force to the expression of
sentiment — it is for them, most unquestionably,
to guard the national honour of their respective
countries from the shameful reproach, that men
whose works do honour to their race, whose lives
are freely devoted to the good of mankind, in-
stead of being confined to the petty cares of self-
interest, should be permitted to exist in personal
obscurity and privation, and die in accordant dis-

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWAEDS. 43

tress and social contempt. The most speedy and
efficacious means of raising tliem to a just esti-
mation in tlie eyes of the people^ ought to be the
object of such rulers' special regard.

What a glorious world would this be, if things
were managed properly — not left to the " hurry-
skurry " of chance — not governed by the caprice
of passion or fancy — not exposed to the sinister
intrigues of concealed baseness, — but calmly, de-
liberately, wisely, and truthfully ! There was an
ancient goddess to whom divine honours were
paid because she was supposed to grant success
and favour to good and useful intentions. Were
she now in possession of her former temple, we
would earnestly invoke her aid, while boldly, in
the face of unreflecting prejudice, or of that ab-
sorbing selfishness which is so often the ally of
wilful ignorance, we presume to argue that the
time is not distant when the cause we have so
feebly advocated in these pages will meet with a
foir attention, and the long-suppressed light of
justice prevail. The highest duties of our social
and political life are involved in a question which
has too long been neglected. That question can
only be fully apprehended, and rendered subser-
vient to the advancement of human happiness,
when an increased development of the true spirit

44 LITERAEY CLAIMS TO

of civilization shall liave prepared men's minds
for tlie adoption of juster views, and more equi-
table considerations. And that time, we trust,
is rapidly approaching, if it have not already ar-
rived. We think, indeed, it but requires a spark
of genuine patriotism, rightly directed, to ignite
a magazine of national enthusiasm, whose conta-
gious fervour shall quickly overpower the cold,
disdainful opposition of those short-sighted, class-
wedded politicians who are interested in perpe-
tuating the injustice of the past. Whether that
spark may be destined to proceed from the argu-
ments displayed in the present humble state-
ment, or be awakened by the appeal of a more
able and fortunate writer, we truly care not, and
shall be equally gratified to contemplate the suc-
cess of the enterprise, whether it be dvie to our
own exertion, or to that of another, having no
literary reputation to seek, or individual interest
to sustain, in the furtherance of the object in view.
Our zeal is devoted to so good and honourable a
work for its own sake. To labour in such a cause
is to honour ourselves. That cause is the vindica-
tion of a high principle of national honour. The
question involved is that of the exclusion of our
most deserving "public servants " from the pos-
session of " public honours."

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS, 45

We would see, then, very gladly — and the
sight would refresh every worthy heart in the
realm — public rewards, both honorary and pecu-
niary, conferred on talents and virtues which are
now — so far as State favour or royal appreciation
can be supposed to be cognizant of them — bm^ied.
in the depths of Cimmerian obscurity — veiled in
Lethean oblivion — sunk in the impenetrable
abysses of ancient Chaos. We would see appro-
priate pensions assigned not only to the learned
historian, the erudite philologist, the accom-
plished Knguist, the profound natural-philoso-
pher, the refined poet, but also to the professors
or representatives of the kindred arts — to the
skilful painter, the expert engraver, the talented,
sculptor, the able musician, the ingenious mecha-
nist, the deserving discoverer or inventor, or, in
brief, to the whole united body of eminent civi-
lians who have most conspicuously devoted their
gifts and energies to the welfare and enjoyment
of their fellow-men.

And, in order to distinguish more effectually
those members of the commonwealth who have
lived for the noble ends for which life was given,
— who have spent their days in glorious toil, de-
voting their efforts to the highest aims of human
ambition — to pursuits in which mediocrity is

46 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

failure, and in wliicli only consummate excellence
can claim the palm of success, for sucli men — the
noblest ornaments of their country — we would
boldly claim tlie grant of some mark of distin-
guislied HONOUR at tlie liands of oui- national
rulers.

We have a confident hope, that, old as we now
are, we shall yet see the day when " this England
of ours,'^ not too proud to take a copy of the fine
example set by every other European nation,
shall choose to see the equity, and more than
that — yes, far more than that in the estimation of
our modern legislators, — the policy, of permit-
ting the rills that derive their source from the
" FOUNTAm OP HONOUR " to extend themselves,
albeit in tinier channels, to the distant region
so long cut off from the fertilizing influence of
that benignant irrigation.

The grant of a national symbol of merit would
evoke marvellous results now entirely unantici-
pated. So coveted a boon would constitute a
new motive power, the extent of whose force
may be guessed, rather than approximately esti-
mated. The establishment of the "Legion op
Honour '' in France, opened a new era in the
na,tional annals — it awoke a passionate sense of
military glory, which the discerning founder

PUBLIC HONOUES AND EEWAEDS. 47

knew well how to turn to account. He relied
upon its influence, and it never failed him. In
like manner, but as awakening the energies of
our countrymen in the path of civil mee it, would
an Order, in some respects similar to that of the
" Legion op Honoue," operate on the sensibilities
of a British public.

We have long harped upon the national ad-
vantage of coining a new incentive to civil
vietue — a recompense and source of encourage-
ment for liteeaey, scientific, and aetistic meeit.
As far back as 1842, we wrote upon the subject
with an anxious zeal. We repeated our efforts
in 1848, and again, on two occasions, in 1855.
And, in the intervals of those dates, we never
ceased, through private correspondence, to urge
eminent men of all departments of generous en-
terprise, to adopt this ardent view of ours, and
seek to give vitality to its object.

Wliy ? Because we saw in it the germ of
boundless good for the advancement of our coun-
try's " dignity and honour," and for the promo-
tion of the just happiness and welfare of thou-
sands of yet unborn British subjects.

Proud will be the day that shall see created
a National Order op Merit, accompanied in
a limited number of instances, by a grant of

d2

48 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

properly adjusted pensions^ and enrolling in its
honoured ranks all whose services have given
them a valid claim to so enviable a distinction.
In most foreign orders exists the honourable
privilege of access to the Court. Let this be also
accorded as an incident to our English Cross op
Merit. Let mental greatness, like the household
" clothed in scarlet " spoken of by Solomon,
" stand before princes. ^^ Why should not the
larger stars or planets approach nearest to the
sun ? " The most things in this world/^ says an
old writer, " are perfectly imperfect ; and the best
things but imperfectly perfect. This is assuredly
a very bad world when we have made the best of
it.^' Yet is this no reason why we should not
try to amend it. Every little step in the right
direction necessarily leads to good ; and so surely
do steps in an opposite course conduct to evil.
From generation to generation, from year to
year, from day to day, by little and little, slowly
and slowly, are approaches made to a larger sum
of human happiness, wherever honest workers
are to be found — men asking no self-gain, giving
to God alone the glory for that which, through
His support, they may achieve, and richly re-
warded if they see accomplished the noble ends
they have diligently sought to establish. Shall

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 49

the writer of this humble attempt to effect a high
national advantage stay his pen from any portion
of the task inviting his aid or influence, because
he himself may not be personally interested in
its success ; because the undertaking affects in
no perceptible manner his own private benefit ?
Shall the reader restrain his voice in support of
it for the same reason ? "We will tell him that
his children or later posterity may reap where he
sows — reap with the gratitude due to his gene-
rous exertions. Every sentiment of humanity, of
honour, of patriotism, and of religion itself for-
bids the selfish inquiry " ^V^lat have I to do with
this matter V We answer with true Chilonian
brevity (the people of Laconia never emphasized
their words with greater terseness) —

^^ Reader, you are an Englishman.'^
We have treated of these matters in a spirit
totally unprejudiced, and free from any inter-
ested calculation ; biassed only by the sincerest
love of our country, and influenced by an anxious
regard for its " dignity and honour.'' To resume
our argument. Titles ought to be marks set upon
the highest worth. " Men of high merit (as
suggested in our title-page) stamp a right to
HONOUR with the seal of reflected eminence."
Nobility without virtue "is a fine setting without

50 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

a gem." Habits, titles, and dignities should not
be, as thej too often are, " visible signs of invisi-
ble merits." We have, however, no objection to
the principle of establishing orders of ancestry, the
possession of which implies no high personal merit
in the members. Nobiliary distinctions, derived
from family descent and representation, indicate
no superiority beyond that of political and social
rank. We would as lieve think of stripping a
noble peer of his estates as of his George and
Garter, or other marks of royal favour. They
are becoming in the eyes of all loyal men, who
see in them the just incidents of a certain esta-
blished position in the State. They often are the
due reward of political services, and in all cases
the meet adjuncts of high personal or hereditary
distinction. What we would see established is
the principle of perfect equality between man
and man in the sight of their common sovereign,
so far as refers to the right of competing on
equal terms as candidates for honorary recogni-
tion by the State ; the possession of superior
VIRTUE (as defined in our first page) being the
principle that should determine the preference in
their favour. In such cases hirtli should give no
partial advantage. " Honour to whom honour is
DUE " should ever be the ruler's cherished pre-
cept.

PUBLIC HONOURS AXD REWAEDS. 51

We should like to see tlie Britisli monarch
presiding at a "tribunal of conscience and
orders/^ like that founded by the illustrious
Emperor Charles the Fifth in Spain^, forming- a
Council especially qualified to deal with the ques-
tion of chivalric awards in all its complicated
bearings — a solemn and authentic mode of ad-
ministering the grant of public honours, which
precluded, as far as human foresight could effect,
the malversations of courtly and other intriguers
for such ostensible marks of national gratitude.
No mean artifices or shifts could betray the eye
of that astute ruler ; and, as the founder of that
council, or " tribunal of conscience and orders,"
an institution of great national advantage worthy
of imitation in other countries, we honour his
imperial memory. Over this tribunal or council,
call it what we may please, the Sovereign should
sit as Supreme Director, assisted by its various ofii-
cers and members. We have a " Board op Trade,"
a "Board of Green Cloth," and other " Boards ;"
why not then have a "Board of Conscience
and Orders," or rather, let us say, a " Court op
Honour"? Under its especial and peculiar juris-
diction should be brought all claims or petitions
to chivalric and nobiliary distinctions without the
mediation oi " It matters not wlco." No influen-

52 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

tial patron or supporter sliould liave a voice in
tlie selection of honorary recipients. All pro-
ceedings should be free from the repression or
mistaken depreciation of any ministerial, official,
or courtly " go-between -j" they should be di-
rectly, openly, nakedly conducted, in the eyes of
all men, in the light of perfect day.

The insigma of an order of merit would un-
mistakably speak of personal, not of positional or
adventitious eminence. There need then be no
jealousy between the possessors of these various
and dissimilar dignities. The influence of an
ORDER OF merit FOR CIVIL SERVICES on the views
and habits of general society would be electrical.
How men's ideas would change when they saw
royal and national honours showered in just pro-
fusion upon deserving men, whose patient and
modest acceptance of the rough conditions of this
sordid world had seemed to chain them to a
doom of chronic wretchedness, to a fate of almost
hopeless obscurity, their great talents, their
superhuman mdustry alike ignored or despised
by the mob of worthless worldlings that sur-
rounded them !

Yes, the glorious beams of the royal luminary
should be as free and benignant as those of the
sun of nature, whose splendour is regulated by

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 53

the Divine Ruler. No petty screens should be set
up to check or intercept its more lavish radiance.
The " FOUNTAIN OP HONOUR " exists as a national
source of blessing and blessedness. It is the
sacred stream destined to impart verdure and
luxuriance to the arid soil of fields of peril and
of labour^ wherever persevering courage and
talent win the hardly earned palm of just distinc-
tion. Every native of our vast empire has a per-
sonal appeal to its appointed ministration as the
distributive medium of the nation^ s rewards for
distinguished virtue as a citizen. The love of
glory is the prevailing influence that stimulates
men of all classes to deeds of lofty exertion.
Take away the noble prize of honour, and the
best incentive to excel in arts or arms is lost.

The "fountain op honour^' is the most
august and expressive image that can represent
the regal office, save only its sister emblem, the
"fountain op justice.^' The "fountain of
honour " exists as a national source of favour to
reward the good. The " fountain op justice "
has for its implied attribute the punishment of
the evil. By a strictly logical necessity, both
"fountains^' should find their waters directed
in corresponding channels to the furthest boun-
daries of the wide area of the commonwealth.

64 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

The analogy is perfect ; tlie inference unques-
tionable. "The good actions of w.en," says
SoLONj the wisest of all human legislators, " are
produced by the fear of punishment and the hope
of reward/' There has been little hesitation or
difficulty in arranging a system of punishment. ■
The stream from this " fountain " has been
copiously administered, and its waters have too
often been blended with a darJier fluid, while it
has been the labour of patriotic and humane
minds to seek to render more precious in the
eyes of those in power the lives of their erring
fellow-creatures. To dispense the genial lymph
that flows from the. twin " fountain/' so that all
who eminently deserved might enjoy an invigo-
rating draught from its salubrious reservoir, has
been held a less practicable or desirable function
by those to whom were mainly delegated the
sovereign's privileges in regard to the exercise
of this, the loftiest right of the imperial crown.
But let us reverently recall the pleasing fact that
no complaint of neglect in respect of any alleged
invidious privation is to be referred to the per-
sonal indifference of the monarch who, in our own
day, combines every quality of heart and mind
most supremely conducive to the happiness of
her loving subjects. What the Romans said of

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 55

Titus, Englislimen may apply to tlieir present
Queen, for, whithersoever she goes, she is the
" love and delight of all men."

Well do we all know the truthful axiom — " The
King reigns, but the minister rules," — an axiom
'that has repeated itself in the fellow-sajdng —
" The King can do no wrong." There is good
in this, and there is harm, as must generally oc-
cur in all human arrangements. " Every medal
has its reverse." Every convenience carries its
abatement. The harm alluded to, as connected
with the good, is the diminution of paternal and
filial reciprocity between the sovereign and the
subject, as necessarily occasioned by this enforced
delegation of personal authority. We still apply
to our Eangs the title of " Sire " or " father,"
and we have yet a sincere and strong meaning in.
the use of the epithet. The idea of favour softens
and renders less invidious the more severe senti-
ment associated with that of power. We love to
see the " eather " in the " king," and to look
upon him in the light of a chief " benefactor."
The highest title of the Omnipotent Ruler, as ex-
pressed in the ascription of man's devoted grati-
tude, is that of " Father." In the days of pagan
superstition, the most powerful of all the reputed
gods received the name of Jupiter, quasi juvans

56 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

PATER. " EuERGETES," a Surname signifying " be-
nefactor/' was commonly given to many kings
in ancient times. And with what pleasure does
our eye rest on the names of those admirable men
who used power for the noblest end — that of he-
friending MERIT ; while we turn aside with con- •
tempt and loathing from the record of those
baser souls that regarded it only as valuable for
the furtherance of their own selfish aims and
purposes ! Who could have greater honour than
Agesilaus, King of Sparta^ who was fined by the
EPHORi for having stolen all the hearts of the
people to himself? of whom it is said, that he
ruled his country by oheying it ? Beautiful is the
address of the Roman Senate to the second Clau-
dius— " Claudi Auguste, tu frater, tu pater, tu
amicus, tu bonus senator, tu vere princeps.''

To do good to his subjects was the ambition of
Titus, and it was at the recollection that he had
done no service, or granted no favour one day,
that he exclaimed, " I have lost a day ! '' There
spoke the soul of a prince — the spirit of a true
man — the " father " — the " benefactor " of his
people.

We read with a sense of grateful pleasure that
Vespasian, the parent of this good Prince, was
equally conspicuous for his many virtues. To

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 57

men of learning and merit lie was very liberal ;
one hundred thousand sesterces were annually
paid from the public treasury to the different pro-
fessors that were appointed to encourage and
promote the arts and sciences. It was a fine
compliment made to this excellent man — " Great-
ness and majesty have changed nothing in you
but thisj that your ])ower to do good should be
answerable to your will.'"

It was Eoman Virtue that raised the Roman
glory. The greater a man is in power above
others, the more he ought to excel them in vir-
tue ; wherefore Cyrus said, " that none ought to
govern who was not better than those he go-
verned." There is no true glory, no true great-
ness, without virtue.

Men of eminent note, as poets, philosophers,
and scholars, were much regarded by monarchs
in the ancient world. Virgil, Horace, Livy, Ca-
tullus, Cornelius Nepos, Propertius, Tibullus,
Ovid, Crispinus Plotius, Varius, and other lite-
rary men, were admitted to various degrees of in-
timacy by Augustus. Augustus was very affable,
and returned the salutation of the meanest indi-
vidual. One day a person presented him with a
petition, but with so much awe that Augustus
was displeased with his meanness. ''What,

58 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

friend \" cried he ; " you seem as if you were offer-
ing something to an elephant, and not to a man ;
be bolder/^

What says glorious old Shakespeare, the oracle
of human wisdom and moral truthfulness ?

" Mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence —
Abstain from semblance of servility ;
And by thy body's action teach the mind
A most inherent baseness."

It has been justly remarked by a writer of our
own day, that "this maxim is drawn from the
depths of human nature and moral philosophy,
and expressed with the same sublimity as it was
conceived/^ Genuflection and prostration are
some of the slavish modes of paying civil respect
throughout the barbarous East, unmeet for civi-
lized usage. Louis XVI. of France, Frederick
THE Great of Prussia, and Joseph, Emperor of
Germany, all, it is said, forbade kneeling to
them.

But to pursue our former train of remark. In
the records of modern times we read of but few
instances of a close sympathy between the savant
and the sovereign. It is honourable to the me-
mory of George the First, if true, that, being
told by some one how happy he was to be King
of England and Elector of Hanover at the same

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 59

time^ lie said^ " I am prouder of being able to say
I have two such subjects as Newton and Leib-
nitz in my dominions, than to say I reign over
the kingdoms that contain them." This anec-
dote reminds us of another, told of Francis the
First of France, who encouraged letters and the
fine arts from a real love he had for them. When
Benvenuto Cellini told him how happy he was
to have the patronage of so great a Prince, Fran-
cis replied most nobl}^, " I am as happy to have
so great an artist as yourself to patronize." He
gave great pensions to men of letters, particu-
larly to BUD^EUS.

Recent cases of a personal attachment border-
ing on familiar friendship exist in the anecdotes
preserved by Von Humboldt and Andersen in re-
ference to their respective sovereigns, the late
Kings of Prussia and Denmark. Another in-
stance of princely regard towards the mentally
great of his own and other countries may be cited
in the person of the present Emperor of the
French, himself a man of much literary taste and
talent, whose frequent and favoured guests are
selected from the ranks of learning and genius.
Such intimacies convey unmistakably to such fa-
voured individuals the precious assurance that
their worth is widely acknowledged — that their

60 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

names will live in the estimation of mankind — an
assurance far more acceptable than the possession
of piles of gold, or heaps of bank-notes. Alas,
that such pleasing pictures of elevated sympathy
between minds of congenial character, as prevail-
ing in opposition to the restraining effects of a
contrariety of worldly station, should be so rare
in these vaunted days of superior enlightenment,
when it might be thought that there would exist
a more general appreciation of the value and dig-
nity of the services rendered to the community
by men of letters and scientific students, the far
greater number of whom are permitted to live
" in cold obscurity/^ — poor and unknown ! One
would think that the greatest honour of human
life was to live well with men of merit. We be-
lieve that the fact arises from this melancholy
truth, that few princes, like the French Emperor,
possess a refined taste of letters, which alone can
give a zest for the happy communication of just
and generous sentiments, the display of luxuriant
fancy, and of the variety of knowledge and other
triumphs of intellectual superiority. To souls
unanimated with noble views, nature and fortune
have only assigned material advantages to be
misapplied. In such souls a zeal for the public
good, and a pride in that merit which is its best

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. Gl

support, cannot live. The " imperial purple "
may flow gracefully over tlie shoulders of the
wearer, while the pomp that is born of nature in
the mind, and attired in the ornaments of a dili-
gent culture, exists not within the breast that
glitters beneath the gorgeous star of a merely
external and lifeless grandeur.

The generosity and favour of monarchs are
beautifully illustrated in many of the most stir-
ring passages of our earlier history. They present
traits of royal life and princely bearing which are
excluded, too generally, from the observation of
modern experience. They are "parcel of the
past,'^ and, in such instances, the past retm'us no
more. Jupiter himself, as classical fables toll us,
was forced to submit to the decrees of the Fates.
And so, in like manner, must modern potentates
submit to the unavoidable causes which tend to
sever a personal intercommunion with the bulk
of even their most distinguished subjects. They
must be chiefly seen when exercising the displays
of courtly ceremonials — when acting their august
part in the befitting pageantries of their royal
station. The monarch of to-day must necessarily
be unknown in person to millions of his most
dutiful and devoted lieges. In eaiiier times, his
face and form, his manners and speech, would

E

62 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

have been familiar to tlie meanest of his people.
In those days it was, as we have seen, that the
title of " FATHER " was addressed, as significant
of the ruler of a nation. With more or less sig-
nificancy has it been the wont of all peoples,
from the earliest records of the world, to call their
rulers by the same touching and expressive title.
Nations then consisted of mere families, patri-
archally governed, and the king was in most re-
spects simply the first of his people, sharing as
an individual in all their common sympathies,
bred up in their own habits, affected, like them-
selves, by every circumstance of success or fail-
ure, enjoyment or suffering. Wide changes in
the constitution of human society have generated
corresponding alterations in social manners and
ideas ; but still, from the force of early associa-
tions, as perpetuated by our mental pictures of
scenes exhibited in the life of the earlier ages, we
have clung to the use of the endearing term of
'^ Sire ^^ or "father," as expressive of the love
which a sovereign bears to his people, and of that
which a people bear to their monarch as his im-
plied cliildren. Every act on the part of his ap-
pointed ministers that tends to disturb or dimi-
nish these ties of reciprocal affection and respect
should be scrupulously deprecated and avoided.

PUBLIC HONOUES AND EEWARDS. 63

as dangerous to the foundations of tlie great so-
cial compact.

The high rewards for great national services
are entrusted by the people to the hand of the
reigning sovereign, who is advised as to their dis-
tribution by a " responsible " minister. The minis-
ter is " responsible/' of course, to the people as
well as to the Crown — alike to the governing and
the governed. It is the right of the sovereign to
command, the duty of the subject to obey, both
being alike directed in their actions by the obli-
gation of constitutional laws. Sovereign and
subject are alike accountable to a higher Power
than that which hu^man laws can frame ; and to
which Power most especially are " responsible "
those to whom are committed the awful duties of
rulers over mankind. What higher motive, then,
can inspire a monarch to rule with unswerving
justice and equity than the prevailing conviction
of this inevitable accountability to the Supreme
Throne ?

To that just and awful sense of royal responsi-
bility we reverently and most loyally and lov-
ingly, as a dutiful and attached British subject,
appeal for the removal of a flagrant obstruction
to the cause of right — namely, the regulation, of
long usage, which dispenses grants of honom*, and

E 2

64 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

otlier distinctions and advantages, to tliose who
are recognised as "servants of the State;" while
the representatives of that far nobler and more
deserving class which has made England what
she is in the estimation of her sister nations, and
in the pride of her own heart, as the land of
Shakespeare and Milton, of Bacon and Newton,
are shnt out from the distribution of " State re-
wards;"— an injustice which is only imperfectly
repaired by the occasional munificence of the
rulers of other countries, who have, with the most
noble generosity, admitted British subjects, dis-
tinguished by literature, science, and art, into
their several Orders op Merit.

What do we mean when we talk of civilization,
when we speak contemptuously of the heathen
ages of the various races of our species ? Do we
so often meet with a sordid neglect of men of
learning and genius in the days we thus asperse ?
No ; we read of most numerous instances in which
the highest honours, royalty included, were
heaped upon them. It were well, indeed, if we
tore a few leaves out of the nobler volume of the
past, and strove to profit by the bright example
they would give to us. In the history of ancient
times there only occur to our immediate recollec-
tion five instances wherein distinguished literary

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWAEDS. 65

talents broiiglit no corresponding advantages to
their possessors.

The list of unfortunate men of letters living in
modern times abounds with incidents of the most
revolting calamity and neglect, as we seek to
show in the latter portion of our volume. Yet,
large as is the list, it might have been far ex-
tended, had our leisure permitted; but the
examples that we have given of the miseries they
endured are sufficiently complete for the pm-pose
in view.

We cannot close this brief appeal without a
consoling glimpse at the less obvious facts that
accompanied the sad experiences of these seem-
ingly ill-fated worthies. Their lot was not all
bitterness. The direst visitations of misfortune
could not stifle the deep inward satisfaction which
the noble enthusiast enjoyed in perfecting the
immortal works of his pen. For a time he forgot
the earth, and, like the prophet of old, " his soul
was in heaven.^' If the sneer of the dull world-
ling derided his unselfish labours — if the cold,
calculating pursuers of wealth sought to place on
him a stigma that degraded him in the social
census, prating, as our political economists prate,
of the " recognised necessities and common fit-
ness ^^ of things, and freely assigning, as a

QQ LITERARY CLAIMS TO

" satisfactory result/^ a condition of deserved
poverty witli its attendant privations, to those
who " chose to labour for others rather than for
themselves," we smile at the thought which
assures us that the retirement of the thus calum-
niated bard or philosophic student was a sacred
retreat from the ungenial scenes of the world
without — an asylum into which no unhallowed
impeachment of his generous devotion and in-
spired toils could intrude, and in which he could
uninterruptedly dream over his happy hopes of
immortal honour, without the least thought of
the sneer of his ignorant and vulgar-minded de-
tractors. Those small-brained, heartless, wealth-
esteeming, and stupid worldlings now sleep the
inglorious sleep of the unheeded and worthless
dead ; forgotten — or despised, if remembered.

Wliat says the high-souled Roman writer ?
" Mors omnibus ex natura gequalis est : oblivione
apud posteros, vel gloria distinguitur."

The " glorious few" repose in revered quie-
tude ; their brief struggles with poverty and
misfortune are but upbraiding memories for those
who survive. Their noble works are labelled
with the title of " immortal -/' and their spirits
are revelling in the boundless bliss of the man-
sions of heaven. They enjoy the rich " rewards "

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 67

perpetually and blessedly flowing from a " Foun-
tain OP Honour " whose dignities are eternal ;
and tliey bask in the blaze of the Great Throne
of Universal Dominion, whose Omnipotent Lord
is, was, and ever will be, through interminable
and nightless ages (so to speak of eternity, which
is ever neiv) the true " Father " and '' Benefac-
tor " of all His peoples.

68

Glean we^, by way of illustration, a few promi-
nent examples of tlie various fortunes experienced
by men of genius and learning in ancient and
modern times.

So great was the veneration of tbe people of
Magna Grgecia for the celebrated philosopher
Pythagokas, that he received the same honours
as were paid to the immortal gods, and his house
became a sacred temple.

Empedocles, the philosopher, poet, and his-
torian, of Agrigentum, was offered the crown of
his country, which he refused.

The Athenians were so pleased with the "An-
tigone " of Soi-HQCLES, at the first representation,
that they presented the author with the govern-
ment of Samos,

Plato was bidden by the second Dionysius to
appear at his court, and accepted the invitation.
So far, philosophy was honoured in his person ;
but not all his eloquence could prevail upon that

LITERAEY CLAIMS TO PUBLIC HONOURS. 69

cruel tyrant to becoine the father of his people.
The works of this great writer^ who justly re-
ceived the epithet of " divine/' were so famed for
the elegance^ melody, and sweetness of expres-
sion, that their author became distinguished by
the appellation of the " Athenian Bee." His
opinions were universally received and adopted.

The people of Stagira instituted public festi-
vals in honour of the memory of the famous
Aristotle, of whom it has been said that he has
exercised as wide a dominion over men's minds
as his famous pupil Alexander did over nations.
It has been said of Aristotle that he was the
^' Secretary of Nature ; " he " dipped his pen in
intellect."

To establish public holidays — days of general
recreation and enjoyment — in memory of a great
benefactor, seems the most judiciously-considered
reward that could be decreed to departed worth.

Kings and princes were desirous of the friend-
ship of Theophrastus, the successor of Aristotle
in the Lyceum. Cassander and Ptolemy regarded
him with uncommon tenderness.

When Alexander passed through Phaselis, he
crowned with garlands the statue which had been
erected to the memory of the Greek orator and
poet, Theodectes.

70 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

The Boeotian poet and musician, Timotheus,
was a great favourite of Alexander. Auotlier
and earlier poet and musician of tlie same name,
of Miletus, received an immense sum of monej
from the Ephesians, in recompense of a poem,
which he had composed in honour of Diana,

Xenogrates, the Platonic philosophei*, was
courted, though with no success on their part,
by Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander.
Though respected and admired, he was poor ; and
he was dragged to prison because he was unable
to pay a small tribute to the State. He was soon
delivered from his confinement by one of his
friends.

Euclid was the preceptor and friend of Ptolemy
Philadelphus.

Theocritus, the Greek poet, enjoyed the favours
of the same prince.

Scipio desired to be buried by the side of his
poetical friend Ennius. Could a higher honour
be accorded to human merit ?

Catullus directed his satire against Caesar,
whose only revenge was to invite the poet to a
good supper. We Christian pietists may occa-
sionally take a hint from lessons afforded by the
history of heathen times.

Sallust, the Latin historian, was made quaestor

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWARDS. 71

and consul, and afterwards became Governor of
Numidia, through the favour of Cffisar.

PuBLius Syrus, a Syrian mimic poet, origin-
ally a slave sold to Domitius, gained the esteem
of the most powerful at Rome, and reckoned
Julius Caesar among his patrons.

Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus,
Cornelius Nepos, and a host of other illustrious
writers, were the favoured friends of Augustus.

YiRGiL received from Augustus 1 0,000 sesterces
for every verse in the " ^neid" referring to
Marcellus, while Octavia, the emperor's sister,
mother of the deceased youth, the subject of his
panegyric, liberally rewarded him.

The '' JEneid," remarks Huet, Bishop of
Avranches, one of the most illustrious scholars of
modern times, " was declared a work which con-
ferred on Virgil the title of the most illustrious of
all Roman writers. Those who dared to depre-
ciate this excellent poem were held as profane
and impious persons. The Roman people, in a
crowded theatre, on hearing some verses recited
from their favourite author, rose from their seats,
to show their veneration for the poet, and, on
hearing that he was then in the theatre, they
showed the same marks of respect with which
they would have received Augustus himself."

72 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

The great abilities of Timagenes, a Greek liis-
torian of Alexandria, gained the favour of Au-
gustus.

Cicero was styled the " Father of his Country,
and a second Founder of Rome." What higher
titles could he enjoy ? His chequered career is
so well known as to need no other comment.

Eoscius, the celebrated Roman actor, may be
mentioned in the present series of men or genius,
as the author of a treatise in which he compared,
with much judgment and learning, the profession
of the orator with that of the comedian. In his
private character he was so respectable that he
was raised to the rank of senator. His daily sti-
pend for acting was a thousand denarii, or about
£32. 6s. English money; though Cicero makes
his yearly income to be about £48,334.

A son of Zeno, the rhetorician, was made King
of Pontus by Antony.

Wliat will our modern physicians think of the
rewards conferred by Augustus on his physician,
Antonius Musa, who cured his master of a dan-
gerous disease by recommending him the use of
the cold bath ? He was honoured with a brazen
statue by the Roman Senate, which was placed
near that of ^sculapius, and Augustus permitted
him to wear a golden ring, and to be exempted
from all taxes.

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWAEDS. 73

LuCAN, tlie poet and liistorian, was raised by
Nero to tlie dignity of an augur and qutestor
before lie had attained the proper age.

SuLPiTius, tbe orator, was employed as an am-
bassador, and, at his death, the Senate and the
Roman people, at the instigation of Cicero,
ei'ected a statue to his honour in the Campus
Martins.

Peteonius, an author of exceptionable morals,
but possessed of a pen of extreme elegance, was
appointed proconsul of Bithynia, and afterwards
consul ; in both of which employments he behaved
with all the dignity becoming the successors of a
Brutus or a Scipio.

The historian Tacitus was honoured with the
consulship.

The elder Pliny was courted and admired by
the emperors Yespasian and Titus, but it is
doubtful whether his literary works alone were
considered as a reason for this distinction. He
was born of a noble family, and had held several
high public offices, in which his prudence and
abilities made him respected. He employed his
days in the administration cf the affairs of his
province, and the nights were devoted to study.

Martial, the famous epigrammatist, received
the highest honours from Domitian, who, amongst
other distinctions, raised him to the tribuneship.

74 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

Suetonius, the Latin historian, was treated
with pecuhar favour by the emperor Adrian.

Pliny the younger presided over Pontus and
Bithynia in the office of proconsul.

The emperor Trajan admired the abihties of
Plutarch, honoured him with the office of consul,
and appointed him governor of Illyricum. He
had opened a school in Rome, which was much
frequented. His " Lives of 1 llustrious Men " will
be read as long as admiration for virtue shall live
in the hearts of men.

PoLEMON, a sophist, of Laodicea, was greatly
favoured by Adrian.

Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher, enjoyed the
esteem and friendship of the emperors Adrian
and Marcus Aurelius. But he preferred poverty
to riches, and resided in a cottage which had no
furniture but an earthen lamp, which was sold
after his death for 3000 drachmas.

The emperor Marcus Aurelius was so sensible
of the merit of Lucian, the author of the " Dia~
logues " and other admirable compositions, that he
made him registrar to the Roman governor of
Egypt, a post of high emolument and dignity.

The Roman emperor Caracalla was so pleased
with the poetry of Oppian that he gave him a
piece of gold for every verse of his poem entitled
" Gynegeticon," from which circumstance the poem

PUBLIC HONOUES AND EEWAEDS. tO

received tlie name of tlie " golden verses " of
Oppian.

PlotinuSj a Platonic philosopher, became a
public teacher in Rome, and was caressed by
Gallienus, who admired the extent of his learning.
His eloquence charmed the populace, his doc-
trines the senate ; his school was frequented by-
people of every sex, age, and quality, and he was
a universal favourite.

LoNGiNDS, the philosopher and critic, of Athens,
became minister to Zenobia, the famous Queen
of Palmyra. He was one of her favourites, and
taught her the Greek tongue. Admired for her
literary, as well as military talents, she received
no less honour from the patronage she alForde
to that celebrated critic.

AuEELius ViCTOE, a writer in the age of Con-
stantius, was greatly esteemed by the emperor,
and honoured with the consulship.

LiBANius, the celebrated sophist, of Antioch,
contemptuously refused the oflFers of the Emperor
Julian, who wished to purchase his friendship
and intimacy by raising him to ofl&ces of the
greatest splendour and affluence in the empire.

Themistius, the philosopher, was high in the
esteem of the Roman emperors, and raised to the
senate.

76 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

Only five instances immediately occur to our
recollection in whicli distinguislied literary merit
brought no corresponding advantages to the pos-
sessor. They are those of Homer, Socrates,
Cleanthes, Plautus, and Xylander.

Homer, justly esteemed, in succeeding ages,
the " Prince of Poets/' possessing power over the
human heart which might almost be called ma-
gical;, lived as a homeless wanderer, resorting to
public places to recite his verses for a morsel of
bread, — glad to receive from the hand of the
coarsest clown the meanest dole. If the story of
Belisarius be, as is supposed by the generality of
our ablest scholars, a fiction of modern inven-
tion, the hideous fact of Homer's mendicancy is
without a parallel in the records of public infamy.
Some authors doubt the truth of the story as to
Homer's blindness, and equally dispute the ques-
tion of his poverty. '^ Nox alta velat."

Xenophanbs, a Greek philosopher of Colophon,
author of many poems and treatises, and founder
of the Eleatic sect in Sicily, died very poor when
about 100 years old,

A life of poverty, labour, and hardship was led,
by choice, by that greatest of all moral philo-
sophers, the illustrious Socrates. Insults, inju-
ries, and contempt were showered upon him. He

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 77

was ridicvilecl and hated for his superiority of
mind and independence of spirit, and at length
exposed, by public injustice, to death by poison.
All succeeding ages have venerated his exemplary
virtue. He died at the summit of mortal glory.

Cleanthes, the "Father of the Stoics/' as
Cicero calls him, was so poor that to maintain
himself he used to draw out water for a gardener
in the night, and study in the daytime. Yet this
great man was the successor of Zeno. He ended
his noble yet wretched life in characteristic suf-
fering. It is said that he starved himself in his
90th year.

The excellent comic poet Plautus, in order to
maintain himself, entered, it is said, into the
family of a baker, as a common servant. Varro,
whose judgment is great, declares that if the
Muses were willing to speak Latin, they would
speak in the language of Plautus. His comedies,
twenty-five in number, were written at spare mo-
ments snatched from his daily toil.

One poor solitary dinner was the sole recom-
pense obtained by a starving writer of note,
Xylander, for his laboriously compiled "Annota-
tions on Dion Cassius."

Let us now descend to modern times, and see
what they will present to us.

78 LITERAKY CLAIMS TO

Dante's fate has met with the followmg beau-
tiful but melancholy record from a pen of our
own day : —

" His, alas ! to lead
A life of trouble, and ere long to leave
All things most dear to him, ere long to know
Soiv salt another's bread is, and the toil
Of going up and down another's stairs."

Theodore Gaza, an eloquent writer both in the
Greek and Latin languages, a distinguished re-
viver of ancient learning, was equally unfortunate,
and " adds to the number of those whom Provi-
dence has exhibited to prove that the rewards of
virtuous and useful labour do not consist in riches,
honours, or anything else which the rulers of this
world are able to bestow/' Poor Gaza had de-
dicated his " Translation and Commentaries on
Aristotle's Book on Animals " to Pope Sixtus the
Fourth, in hopes of procuring from his patronage a
little provision for his old age. The Pope gave him
only a purse with a few pieces in it, and accom-
panied his gift with a manner which induced
Gaza to conclude that it was the last favour he
should receive. Gaza received it in silence ; and
as he walked home, all melancholy and indignant,
along the banks of the Tiber, he threw the purse
into the stream, and soon after died of vexation
and disappointment.

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 79

Philelphus, wliose writings partake mucli of
the graces whicli shine so agreeably in the
epistles of Pliny and Cicero^ after a long life of
laborious application, during whicli he was hon-
oured by the friendship of princes and Pontiffs,
died, in his eighty-second year, so poor that his
bed and the utensils of his kitchen were sold to
pay the expenses of his funeral.

The truly venerable Aldus Manutius was so
lamentably destitute of means, that the cost in-
curred in the removal of his library from Venice
to Pome reduced him to the state of an in-
solvent.

The squalid walls of a workhouse surrounded
the death-bed of the renowned Agrippa.

Erasmus was certainly the greatest man of his
time. Popes, kings, archbishops, bishops, and
cardinals hid their diminished heads in his pre-
sence. One is, indeed, almost tempted to laugh
when one surveys a group of stupid personages
with crowns and mitres, riches and titles, sitting
on their thrones and in their cathedrals, yet bow-
ing with an homage at once abject and involun-
tary, to the personal merit of the poor, neglected,
unpreferred Erasmus. He was permitted by
Providence to perform a pilgrimage through this
world without ecclesiastical riches or dignity ; he

f2

80 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

was designed as an instance to prove tliat great
merit is its own reward, and that temporal dis-
tinctions are allowed, like trifles beneath the no-
tice of Pleaven, to fall indiscriminately on the de-
serving and the undeserving, the learned and the
ignorant. Erasmus had no mitre ; but he had
the internal satisfactions of genius ; he had glory,
he had liberty, and the wearers of mitres crouched
at the awful dignity of his personal merit.*

Louis Camoens, the greatest literary genius
ever produced by Portugal, died, in his native
city of Lisbon, in the greatest destitution. How
touching is the fact, that while his country beheld
his wants with ingratitude and neglect, he was
chiefly maintained by the unwearied efibrts of an
old black servant, who had been long the faithful
companion of his distresses. This devoted fol-
lower, a native of the island of Java, begged alms
in the streets of Lisbon ; and the scanty pittance
thus casually acquired was the sole support of
his dying master. Yet has no record that we
have ever seen perpetuated the name of this
noble and exalted Indian ! Were we privileged to
exercise the astronomer^s choice, in giving to a
newly-discovered planet a designation by which
it should be known through all future ages, we
* Knox's ' Essays,' vol. iii. p. 63, 17tli edit.

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 81

would seek to ascertain tlie name of this faithful
attendant, and rejoice in the opportunity of trans-
mitting it thus conspicuously, as that of the re-
corded luminary. But his name already shines
in heaven with a brighter glory than that of star
or planet — where the highest boast of earthly
distinction is but as —

" A tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing!"

Tasso claims the following melancholy notice
from the pen of one of our most esteemed modern
poets: —

" His to drink deep of sorrow, and through life,
To be the scorn of tliem that knew liim not.
Trampling alike the girer and his gift,
The gift a pearl precious, inestimable,
A lay divine, a lay of love and war,
To charm, ennoble, when the oar was plied,
Or on the Adrian or the Tuscan sea."

Tasso, while enjoying the laudatory title of
" the Great," half playfully, half earnestly alludes
to his occasional privations, in one of his sonnets
addressed to a favourite cat, entreating her to
bestow, during the darkness of the night, the
lustre of her eyes, " non avendo candele per iscri-
vere i suoi vorsi ! '' To borrow from one of his
friendly admirers so small a sum as a crown to

82 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

meet tlie demand for ordinary necessaries seems
to have been no infrequent act. Had he or the
nation the deeper cause to bhish for his exposure
to such an indignity ?

Lydiat, an eminent writer, was not less fa-
mous for his learning than his misfortunes, and
was respected by the scholars of his age, while
some foreign literati ranked him with Lord
Bacon.

Tlie younger Scaliger, who has been called
" The Abyss of Erudition " and "The Ocean of
Science," deplored all his lifetime the want of
patronage, and the straitness of his circum-
stances.

The learned English monarch, James the First,
took great pleasure in reading, night after
night, the valuable work of Pcrchas — the ' Ue-
lation of the World/ which the author had spent
years of distant travel and unremitting toil in
preparing for the press. The King read it, we
are told, " with great profit and satisfaction," but
allowed the meritorious writer to be thrown into
prison at the suit of the printer, as the reward
of his long and anxious labours. This able and
indefatigable writer died in the most indigent
circumstances.

With all his incomparable merit, with all the

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 83

celebrity of liis name, Michael Cervantes, im-
mortalized by bis admirable satire of 'Don Quix-
ote,' had to maintain a miserable figbt with the
coarsest necessities of an obscure station. He
had at times difficulty to preserve himself from
the horrible fear of starvation. Some writers,
indeed, record that he perished in the streets
from hunger.

John Kepler, one of the greatest philosophers
that ever lived, and whom some regard as the
discoverer of the true system of the world, died
in poverty. Thus did this eminently great and
good man leave nothing to his wife and children
but the remembrance of his talents and virtues.

Anthony Wood informs us that Owen, the ce-
lebrated Latin epigrammatist, was much dis-
tressed by poverty, the " epidemical disease of
poets."

It is perhaps allowable for us to believe that
Shakespeare, with all his wonderful powers as a
writer, would have barely earned a livelihood as
an author. The munificence of his patron. Lord
Southampton, and his prosperous speculations as
a theatrical manager, too probably were the only
circumstances that absolved society from the
bitter shame it would have incurred, if a genius like
his had dragged down its possessor to the desti-

84 LITERAEY CLAIMS TO

tution too generally tlie reward of great talents
employed in autliorsliip.

Edmund Spenser is said to liave died of hunger
in the streets of Dublin. Let us now see how " rare
Ben Jonson '^ fared amongst his contemporaries.

A Letter to the Earl of Newcastle.

[Harl. MSS. No. 4955, fol. 204]
" My Noble and most honor' d Lord,

" I myself being no substance, am fain to
" trouble you with shadows, or (what is less) an
" Apologue or Fable in a dream. I being struchen
"with the Palsy in the year 1628, had by Sir
" Thomas Badger some few months since a Fox
" sent me for a present, which creature by hand-
"ling I endeavoured to make tame, as well for
" the abating of my disease as the delight I took
"in speculation of his nature. It happened this
"present year, 1631, and this rerj week, being
" the week ushering Christmas, and this Tuesday
" morning in a dream (and morning dreams are
" truest) , to have one of my servants come up to
" my bedside, and tell me, ' Master, Master, the
" ' Fox speaks ! ' Whereat (me thought) I started,
" and troubled went down into the yard to wit-
" ness the wonder. There I found my Reynard,
" in his tenement — the Tub I had hired for him

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 85

'• — cynically expressing Ms own lot to be con-
" demned to the house of a Poet, where nothing
" was to be seen but the bare walls, and not any-
" thing heard but the noise of a saw, dividing
" billets all the day long, more to keep the family
" in exercise than to comfort any person there with
" fire, save the paralytick master ; and went on
"in this way, as the Fox seemed the better
"Fabler of the two. I, his master, began to
" give him good words and stroke him, but Rey-
" nard, barking, told me those would not do, I
" must give him meat. I angry called him stink-
" ing vermin. He replied, ' Look into your cel-
" ' lar, which is your larder too, you^ll find a worse
" Wermin there.^ When presently, calling for a
"light, me thought I went down and found all
" the floor turned up, as if a colony of moles had
"been there, or an army of Salt-petre men.
" Whiereupon I sent presently into Tuttle Street
" for the King's most excellent Mole-catcher to
"relieve me and hunt them. But he, when he
" came and viewed the place, and had well marked
" the earth turned up, took a handfuU, smelt it,
"and said, 'Master, it is not in my power to de-
" ' stroy this vermin ; the King, or some good man
" ' of a Noble Nature, must help you. This kind
" ' of Mole is called a Want, which will destroy

86 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

" ' you and your family if you prevent not tlie
" ' working of it in time. And therefore God
"'keep you and send you kealth/

''The interpretation both of the Fable and
" dream is, that I waking do find Want the worst
"and most working vermin in a house; and
"therefore my noble Lord, and next the King
" my best patron, I am necessitated to tell it you.
" I am not so impudent to borrow any sum of
" your lordship, for I have no faculty to pay ; but
" my needs are such, and so urging, as I do beg
" what your bounty can give me in the name of
" Good Letters, and the bond of an ever grateful
" and acknowledging servant.

" To your honour,

"Ben Jonson.

" Westminster, 20'"° Dec'"''", 1631.

" Yesterday the barbarous Court of Aldermen
"have withdrawn their Chandlerly Pension for
"Verjuice and Mustard, 33" 6 8."

Cardinal Bentivoglto, whose rank, learning,
and talents rendered him one of the chief orna-
ments of the age in which he lived, sank, in his
old age, into a condition of the most distressing
poverty. His palace was sacrificed for the satis-
faction of clamorous creditors, and he died pos-

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 87

sessed of nothing beyond tlie noble reputation
wliicli no evil destiny could wrencli from liim.

Baker^ the historian, might not claim the high-
est credit of a writer of his class, but his laboui'S
are certainly not deserving of the low estimate too
often expressed in regard to their merits. Cer-
tain it is that he was neglected, and suffered to
languish in great poverty. He has had many
detractors, and not a few of thorn were unworthy'
to hold an opinion on any subject he handled.

The late poet, Rogers, possessed the identical
receipt which showed that our most sublime
poem, ' Paradise Lost,' was sold for the wretched
sum of fifteen pounds by its immortal author,
who was too poor to make any arrangement for
printing it on his own account.

We hardly dare trust our indignant pen to the
mortifying task of recording in this melancholy
list of sufferers the venerated name of the
" Prince of English Satirists '^ — the inimitable
author of ' Hudibras,' whose life was one pro-
longed scene of shifting dependence and broken
hopes — an uninterrupted series of accumulating
disappointments. While the most worthless of
all ignoble princes was absorbed in profligate
revelry, he could yet gratify his keen relish for
the charms of Butler^s unrivalled wit and hu-

bb LITERARY CLAIMS TO

mour^ and apply to the needs and uses of Ms
daily life tlie sprightly aphorisms of the poet's
wisdom^ regardless of the neglected source of
this borrowed display. Was there a concealed
sarcasm in Kneller's everlasting choice of a
Roman habit in the portraits of this abject mo-
narch, as adapted to render more close the re-
semblance which he bore to the character of
Tiberius ?

Thomas Otway, in whose dramatic writings are
to be found some of the finest specimens of im-
passioned poetry embodied in our language, died
at an obscure tavern in the Minories, while
eagerly swallowing a roll which charity had
bestowed to quell the pangs of hunger. Indi-
gence, care, and despondency brought him to an
untimely grave, in his thirty-fourth year. Thus
perished out of a nation's diadem the sweetest
pearl that ever shed a softened radiance on the
brow of sovereignty ; or, to change our metaphor
for one of more popular import, thus closed for
ever a glorious mine of unmeted wealth, when
the grave received that early and illustrious vic-
tim.

A mean cottage in the suburbs of Paris, and
a chronic state of pecuniary embarrassment, pre-
sented the scene and circumstances which sur-

rUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 89

rounded tlie charming writer Le Sage. From
this miserable abode of want and obscurity came
forth those delicious and wonderful romances
that have bewitched readers of every clime and
class. No comfort, no ease, no enjoyment of even
temporary relief from the galling pressure of
destitution, was permitted to gladden the existence
of one of the world's most distinguished literary
benefactors.

In a small cottage in a poor village, condemned
to perpetual labour as a " literary hack,'' denied
the satisfaction of preparing his contributions to
the press with the care alone consistent with
hours of permitted leisure, existed — not lived —
the distinguished French poet De Ryer, whose
works, while indicating the rapidity with which
they were written, show most painfully how much
might have been expected from their author
under the favouring auspices of a brighter destiny.
His heroic verses, we are told, were purchased
by his bookseller at the paltry rate of 100 sols
the 100 lines, and the smaller ones for 50 sols.

Paul Colomies, a distinguished French writer,
fell a victim to poverty, sorrov.% and disease, and
at his death added another name to the Appendix
of Pierius Valerianus's treatise " De lufelicitate
Literatorain," On the Miseries of Learned Men.

90 LITEEAEY CLAIMS TO

Dryden — Claud ffcdcro's " Glorious John " —
received for 10,000 immortal verses, from the
clever trader Tonson, not quite £300, as is proved
hj the agreement which has been published.
After a life of prolonged literary splendour, this
great man died in complete poverty, his very
remains denied a grave by a malevolent creditor,
whose hostility had to be bought off by some
charitable person.

Honest George Farqdhar ! thy soul of fire
was too early withdrawn from the sphere which
it irradiated ; and thy gleams of wit (alas for
genius !) were too often overshadowed with the
dark clouds of pecuniary distress !

Thomas D'Urpey, more generally spoken of
by the familiar name of Tom, wrote many dra-
matic pieces, which were well received by the
public, but his greatest reputation was derived
from his songs, satires, and irregular odes. His
wit and facetious manners caused him to be fami-
liarly noticed by that appreciative monarch
Charles the Second, whose customary liberality
to literary talent struggling with distress was
evidenced in the case of '' poor Tom," whom his
merry Majesty left to struggle on as best he
might; and the poor fellow, slowly sinking under
ever-increasing embarrassments, died at length in

PUBLIC HONOURS AND EEWAEDS. 91

extreme poverty. How small a pension would
have saved liim from this wretched fate !

Diedj in poverty, of a broken heart, a victim of
base ingratitude, Nicholas Amhurst, a profes-
sional writer, who was buried at the charge of
his worthy printer, Eichard Francklin, after a
long literary career, during which he had actively
and often successfully opposed the Walpole ad-
ministration. Such is the assured fate of all who
indulge the promptings of a generous and patriotic
spirit. The work is done — done well — but who
is responsible for the remuneration due to the
workman^s toil ? He must look to himself as his
only employer. Such is the silent but most
eloquent decree of public opinion on the question,
a further illustration, if wanted, of the truth of
Zeno^s axiom, that " virtue is its own reward.^^

A life of penury and wretchedness concluded
in a jail at Bristol — his burial expenses defrayed
by the humane jailer — gives to the memory of
Richard Savage a pointed moral. That hideous
old fiend in female attire, the Countess of Mac-
clesfield, his unnatural mother, rises before our
disturbed vision as we cast our sympathizing
glance upon the poor wasted corpse of her hapless
son — of that son rescued at last, by the friendly
aid of Death, from a scene of life-long sufi'eriug.

92 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

He had " troops of frieuds/' who have preached
to the world of the disregard of the common
maxims of life of the unhappy sufferer, without
reilecting, or, if they did reflect, without acknow-
ledging, that the prudence of which they boasted
as their own possession, was a guest of a different
quality to those " wiiiged visitors " that throng
the palace-halls of the souFs Elysium, as existing
in the rapt bosom of the poet, and illuminated by
the splendour of divine genius. The present re-
mark applies generally to the accusations brought
by worldly-minded calculators against the in-
firmity of imaginative natures. No sympathy
can possibly exist between such characters.
Seekers of wealth have their gaze ever bent
earthward ; they cannot understand the " divine
madness " of the bard of lofty inspiration — of the
dreamer of those trancing, soul-enthralling mys-
teries, " half thought, half vision."

Though Savage was not a poet of this exalted
grade, he had still, however, a large share of the
poetic temperament, and enjoyed his banquets of
Parnassus, alternately with others of a more
sensuous kind, as is the wont of men of strong
passions, such as poets are by nature created, as
the very source of their inspiration. Savage has
been branded by his assumed " benefactors "

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 93

with, tlie vices of intemperance and ingratitude ;
and so respectable in the " eyes of the world "
are these charity-devoted worthies, that we can-
not but believe in the truth of their combined
representations ; but we must ask the question
whether much of that " intemperance " was not
due to their own ill-timed and exaggerated re-
proofs and contumely; and whether some share
of that " ingratitude " was not too often the
natural — nay, the inevitable feeling inspired by
their perpetual trumpetings, kettle-drummings,
and gong-beatings in public laudation of their own
supreme virtues in alms-giving. We never yet
heard men or women much abused that wewere not
inclined to think the better of them. Where, we
ask, were the boasted friends and admirers of
the unfortunate bard when, for the mean sum of
ten pounds, he was compelled to sell the copyright
of his best poem, " The Wanderer" on which he
had expended the lavish labour of years ?

Samuel Boyse, the author of the well-known
poem on the "Deity," whose merit has been
highly estimated by the most judicious critics,
was literally starved to death. His body was
found, lying in a "v\Tetched garret, near Shoe
Lane, London, partially covered with a ragged
blanket, fastened over the shoulders with a

G

94 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

skewer, and — touching fact ! — liis pen was re-
maining in his hand, stiffened by death ! He
was buried at the expense of the parish. Be it
remembered that in that hour of consummated
misery — in that last stage of the poet^s career
of ignominious want — many thousands of low-
thoughted, sensual beings, with scarcely more of
the intellectual nature than served to keep their
bodies from putrefaction, were rioting amidst the
costliest superfluities of life.

Thomas Chatterton, name most prominently
associated with the martyrdom of genius ! Chat-
terton, the boy- critic, the self- formed scholar,
the born poet, from whose facile and elastic pen
might have been surely expected one of the
loftiest productions of epic design, and whose
memory would have been enrolled amid the
proudest records of his country's greatness. Cut
off, while yet in the bloom of youth, from every
pleasurable source of feeling, haunted by fears
of impending starvation, a prey to the direful
promptings of the demon despair, he was goaded
to self-destruction ; while a crowd of imbecile
and worthless creatures, of the type of my Lord
Orford, lisped their vapid and unfelt regrets at
his untimely fate, in such exclamations as : —
''Lord ! how monstrous shocking ! What would

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 95

tlie wretched, sinful fellow have wished foi'?"
Answer : — " Gould it have been the luxury of a
little bread to his water V

Many a single stanza from the pen of Chat-
TERTON was worth tons of such mawkish trash
as the belauded, and he-lorded Walpole scribbled,
as in open contempt for his readers^ intellect.
Sad reflection ! that that small sordid insect
should still flap its tiny wing in all the pride of
its gilded insignificance, while the stately eagle
of empyrean descent should droop its princely
crest and ethereal pinion amid the solitary deso-
lation of the wilderness !

Such a genius as Chatterton's appears not
above once in many centuries. It was not for a
mind like that of Horatio Tadpole (we blush for
this involuntary, maladroit inaccuracy of our
trippant — not flippant pen), we mean TFa/pole,
to appreciate the extraordinary instance of men-
tal grandeur that was revealed in the glory of
the " Bard of Severn.^' There could be no
sympathetic reverberation in a bi*east like his.

Poor Oliver Goldsmith ! Simple, honest,
humane, and generous — witty, learned, versatile,
laborious — endowed with every quality for worldly
success in abundance, except the guiding quality
of discretion. The frequent associate of high-

g2

96 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

born and influential men, to whose patronizing
notice lie was recommended by tlie reputation of
successful autliorsbip, this unfortunate writer was
often without the humble means of discharging
his laundress's score. Plentiful, indeed, were the
sarcasms heaped upon his "vanity'' and "extra-
vagance," by the wretched souls who affected to
love him, who, without a thousandth part of his
genius and scholarship, thought that they gave,
rather than received honour, in admitting him
to their misplaced intimacy. The old adage,
" Gold can gild a rotten stick, and dirt sully an
ingot," well applies to cases like this.

Dr. Samuel Johnson, the " Great Moralist,"
the " Leviathan of Literature," during the greater
part of his long career, led a poor and mean life,
haunted with constantly growing cares and em-
barrassments, straining under a load of mental
toil that would have bowed a less powerful moral
athlete to the dust. As his fame extended, his
circle of professing personal admirers also be-
came enlarged; he was banqueted with smiles
of adulation, and exaggerated expressions of
reverence and regard ; but influential as some of
these associates doubtless were, he appears to
have owed nothing to their boasted friendship,
and but for the timely grant of a royal pension

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 97

of £300 per annum, his later years would have
certainly been exposed to the indignity of pecu-
niary distress. This distinguished man never
appears to ourselves in so depreciated a point of
view, as when surrounded by the many small
spirits of the "Laugton" class, whose names
have been so impertinently connected with his
memory. These petty pretenders to literary
taste, whose persons became known to the world
through his indulgent tolerance of their pygmy
insignificance, seem to have owed their place in
his regard to the craving, natm-al to those of
high parts and studious application, for oppor-
tunities of ventilating ideas, in reference to the
objects of their present researches or speculations,
— a species of talking aloud to themselves, which
may occasionally serve to promote the more rapid
operations of the mind.

The celebrated French writer, Marmontel, died
in a state bordering on want, in a little cottage
situate in an obscure village. A sad doom for a
man, whose long career of literary success had
given promise of a more cheerful retirement in
the decline of life, since the extent of reverses is
in a correspondent ratio with the degree of afflu-
ence and enjoyment once possessed.

Robert Burns, a poet by nature's own tran-

98 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

scendent ordination ! Born in tlie deepest ob-
scurity, debarred any advantage arising from
scholastic culture, he nevertheless indulged the
early promptings of an inborn genius, and put
forth such proofs of high superiority above the
laboured productions of more lofty pretenders to
the palm of Parnassian inspiration, that the eyes
of the astonished public were irresistibly drawn
to the rude hut in which the "Ayrshire plough-
man^' kindled the torch of a destined immor-
tality. The learned commended ; the nobles
repeated the praises of the learned ; fair dames
of the highest quality warbled the rustic com-
poser's soul-wrought lays, and loaded him with
sugared compliments. Yet Scotland's dukes and
duchesses could think of no higher secular em-
ployment, for the poet's fulfilment, than the
office of a gauger or exciseman ; the poor deluded
expectant awoke from his brief dream of laureated
triumphs, to find himself cut off from all sym-
pathy with his crowds of admirers in high places.
Chained, as it were, to a lower sphere of repulsive
vulgarity, exposed to the cares and privations of
penury, humiliated and self-loathing, he sank,
gradually but surely, into the depths of dissipa-
tion, distress, and despair. Never fell a darker
blot upon the vaunted national shield of Scotland,

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 99

than wlieu tlie immortal autlior of " Bruce's Ad-
dress to liis Arvaj," tlie " Cottager's Saturday
Night/' and other unrivalled compositions, wel-
comed the untimely aid of death as a release from
suffering, a prey to destitution and neglect.

Gilbert Wakefield, whose character, in many
respects, resembled that of the philosophers of
antiquity, a man possessed of the deepest learn-
ing, of a lofty independence of mind, and of a
spirit of indomitable energy and perseverance
under difficulties, lived a melancholy life of con-
stant embarrassment and unsuccessful exertion,
uncheered by a single gleam of substantial sym-
pathy, though beset with admiring correspon-
dents among the minions of rank and fortune,
who could easily have procm'ed for him that
moderate advancement, which his simple and
manly nature would have preferred to the pride of
higher station. He sank at length, the victim
of political persecution, brought on, perhaps, by
a misguided course of vain ambition, which led
him to imperil his liberty, sacrifice his worldly
prospects, and alienate many of his best friends,
for the empty indulgence of the pride of patriotic
martyrdom. The proverb of " AnagyruTn com-
movere," signifying the bringing of misfortunes
upon one's self, well applies to this most im-
prudent portion of an honourable life.

100 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

Thomas Dermody, born with talents of tlie
most extraordinary brilliancy^ and whose acquire-
ments were as rare as bis natural endowments,
adds another and most prominent example of the
misery too often attendant upon the possession
of elevated intellect. Driven to excess and to
low habits by the abject state of dependence and
distress which accompanied the whole of his life,
bound down by the chains of necessity to a lot
which appeared irredeemably evil, he drank to
drown the maddening' taunts of self-contempt
provoked and intensified, as they too often were,
by the cold mockery of affected Maecenases ;
heartless wretches, who glorified themselves and
each other while only aping the appearance of
true patronage. These sordid pretenders marked
with habitual insult their petty donations, heap-
ing reproofs upon his alleged misconduct at the
moment of their sham relief.

Poor Dermody died of consumption, in a
wretched hovel at Sydenham, Kent, released, at
length, from his many " constant patrons," whose
whinings in self-eulogy, and whose barkings in
condemnation of the poet^s reckless improvidence
and ingratitude, were happily unheard by the
sad victim of a lifers unchanging misery.

Brief, but illustrious, was the career of Henry

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWAEDS. 101

KiRKE White, who fell a martyr to the exertions
of a mind worn out by too persevering study.
Equally distinguished by his piety, attainments,
and inherent genius, his career may be cited as
a melancholy warning to the few ardent spirits
that, like his own, see but the tempting goal of
their praiseworthy ambition, not asking them-
selves whether their viaticum be proportioned to
the length of their pilgrimage. Talents ex-
hausted by fruitless toil, acquirements made but
to be speedily buried in the tomb, lost to the
world and to themselves, exhibit, in his in-
stance, a most memorable and emphatic lesson.
But his name survives, an undying monument of
the united qualities of the poet, the scholar, and
the Christian. On that monument, a tributary
wreath, culled by the hand of a fellow-native of
the ^"^old forest town" of Nottingham, is now
laid, with a solemn affirmatory response to the
just observation of a talented contemporary and
personal friend of the writer, in his essay ' On
the Genius of Nottingliamshire.' "How Httle
could the proud Duchess of Devonshire have
dreamt that she was very near silencing for ever
those Trent-side warblings of that pale and lonely
boy, who was so soon to draw pilgrims across the
Atlantic, to visit the spots which his Muse had

102 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

invested with tlirilling interest ; so soon to exert
an influence on tlie mind of his native town and
county^ and so soon to acquire a name which
should be remembered when the proud Duchess
of Devonshire should be forgotten \"

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, gives another
name to posterity, associated with the evils that
beset the course of the possessor of lofty talents.
Such, alas ! is too often the man for whom mis-
fortune reserves her darkest frowns. From his
nature incapable of sordid consideration, slow in
the pursuit of mercenary advantage, open to im-
pressions of intellectual enjoyment that lead the
mind from the common paths of worldly interest,
he is too apt to neglect the financial considerations
that operate as a check to the less discursive
habits of individuals of commonplace ideas.

This distinguished man has been accused, by a
host of glib-tongued censors, of incurring debt
without probable means of payment; but how
difficult a question it is to decide what is a reason-
able expectation of being able to discharge such
claims ! " In such cases," suggests an acute
logician, whose argument does honour to his
heart as well as his understanding, "we must
enter into the man's mind, estimate his powers
of hopefulness, make allowance for differences of

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 103

temperament^ take into consideration, too, the
ability or non-ability to calculate tlie cbances of
success. Some men will indulge expectations,
and sometimes realize them, which others scout
as ridiculous.^'

We are no apologists for extravagance and
vice. But we are not of the number of those who
expect from the enthusiasm of the man of refined
taste and elevated genius the calculating coolness
and measured parsimony of the illiterate boor
whose nature excludes an idea of spiritual luxury.
The temperament of the man of wit and humor-
ous vivacity essentially differs from that of the
everlasting thinker in prose. The errors of a
man of genius are usually less offensive than
those of his moralizing critics. It has been well
observed that virtue and vice have as much re-
semblance, when they reach their extremest
points, as Hght and fire. Good motives are not
always crowned with success, and misfortune is
apt to incur blame. The strokes of misfortune
demand our pity for the sufferer. It is a beauti-
ful sapng that misery is sacred. " Res est sacra,
miiser." To vulgar natures such a sentiment may
appear absurd. We envy not their feelings or
their judgment. It were useless to preach such
a truth in certain ears ; as useless, indeed, as to

104 LITERARY CLAIMS TO

apply tlie lash of satire or invective. As Shake-
speare says, " Your dull ass will not mend his pace
by beating/'

With all his vices or faults, whatever they were,
we would gladly look upon another Sheridan.

A few years ago, the ' Post ' recorded the death
of a French Chatterton : — "In the hospital,
where, melancholy to relate, die one-third of the
population of the Parisian Babylon, a few days
since, expired one of the most remarkable poets
of France. Hegesippe Noreau, a young and
obscure journeyman printer, astonished the liter-
ary world of Paris by publishing a poem called
' Mi/sotis/ replete with that intensity of feeling
and warmth of imagination which can alone soar
above a dark destiny. His admirers were numer-
ous, and many an empty-handed Maecenas smiled
upon him his hollow patronage. But if the
praise of his contemporaries pelded to him that
' feast of the soul ' which most of all he prized, it
was barren of that sustenance of the body, which.
most he needed. For more than two years he
proudly and silently struggled with that devour-
ing domestic wolf, want, until at last he fell a
prey to disease. Then were opened to him the
doors of the hospital — that last refuge of the poor
of all classes in France, the chosen land of

PUBLIC HONOURS AND REWARDS. 105

human vicissitude. The Hteraiy world of Paris
heard of his last trials and of his death with sur-
prise, not unmingled with shame and remorse.
National vanity took alarm, and the poet who
could not obtain in his lifetime the rations of a
common soldier, after death received the honours
of a prince. His body, saved from the scalpel of
the anatomist, has been embalmed, and his fea-
tures, resting at last in death, moulded by the
statuary for the sculptor.^' He was interred with
great funeral pomp at Pere la Chaise.

We append half-a-dozen samples of more
liberal treatment accorded to distinguished men
of letters in modern times.

The modesty of high merit is beautifully illus-
trated in the instance of John Wessel, of Groen-
ingen, one of the most learned men of the age of
Sixtus TV. That Pope sent for him, and said,
" Son, ask of us what you will ; nothing shall be
refused that becomes our character to bestow and
your condition to receive." " Most holy father,"
said he, " my generous patron, I shall not be
troublesome to your Holiness. You know that I
never sought after great things. The only favour
I have to beg is that you would give me, out of
your Vatican library, a Greek and a Hebrew
Bible." "You shall have them," said Sixtus,

106 LITERARY CLAIMS TO PUBLIC HONOURS.

" but wliat a simple man are you ! Wliy do you
not ask a bishopric ?^^ Wessel replied, " Because
I do not want one." Dr. Jortin, from whose en-
tertaining pages we quote this anecdote, observes,
" The happier man was he ; happier than they
who would give all the Bibles in the Vatican, if
they had them to give, for a bishopric.^^

Leo X. was both a genius and a protector of
men of talent. His court was an academy.

Paulus Jovtus, a celebrated historian, was
made Bishop of Nocera, and enjoyed a consider-
able pension from this monarch.

Charles Y. sent Aretin a chain of gold worth a
hundred ducats. "A very small present this,"
observed the satirist, " considering the Emperor^s
late enormous follies."

Michael Angelo Ricci, one of the greatest
geometricians of his time, was offered a CardinaFs
hat by Pope Innocent the Eleventh, an honour
which his modesty led him to refuse.

Ferdous, a Persian historian in verse, received
from the king under whose reign he lived, a piece
of gold for every distich his work contained. The
number was 60,000.

THE end.

/ 7/
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